Nahum 3:1-11

1 How terrible it will be for the city that has killed so many. It is full of lies and goods stolen from other countries. It is always killing somebody.

2 Hear the sound of whips and the noise of the wheels. Hear horses galloping and chariots bouncing along!

3 Horses are charging, swords are shining, spears are gleaming! Many are dead; their bodies are piled up -- too many to count. People stumble over the dead bodies.

4 The city was like a prostitute; she was charming and a lover of magic. She made nations slaves with her prostitution and her witchcraft.

5 "I am against you, Nineveh," says the Lord All-Powerful. "I will pull your dress up over your face and show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame.

6 I will throw filthy garbage on you and make a fool of you. I will make people stare at you.

7 Everyone who sees you will run away and say, 'Nineveh is in ruins. Who will cry for her?' Nineveh, where will I find anyone to comfort you?"

8 You are no better than Thebes, who sits by the Nile River with water all around her. The river was her defense; the waters were like a wall around her.

9 Cush and Egypt gave her endless strength; Put and Libya supported her.

10 But Thebes was captured and went into captivity. Her small children were beaten to death at every street corner. Lots were thrown for her important men, and all of her leaders were put in chains.

11 Nineveh, you will be drunk, too. You will hide; you will look for a place safe from the enemy.

Nahum 3:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NAHUM 3

In this chapter is contained the prophecy of the destruction of Nineveh, and with it the whole Assyrian empire; the causes of which, besides those before mentioned, were the murders, lies, and robberies it was full of, Na 3:1 for which it should be swiftly and cruelly destroyed, Na 3:2,3 as also its whoredoms and witchcrafts, or idolatry, by which nations and families were seduced, Na 3:4 and hence she should be treated as a harlot, her nakedness exposed, and she cast out with contempt, and mocked at by all, Na 3:5-7 and all those things she placed her confidence in are shown to be of no avail; as her situation and fortresses, as she might learn from the case of No Amon, Na 3:8-12 nor the number of her inhabitants, which were weak as women; nor even her merchants, captains, nobles, and king himself, Na 3:13-18 nor the people she was in alliance with, who would now mock at her, her case being irrecoverable and incurable, Na 3:19.