Nahum 3:10-19

10 Yet even she was destined for exile; she went into captivity. Indeed, her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her officials; all of her powerful citizens were bound in chains.

11 Yes, even you will become drunk; you will have to hide! Even you will have to seek refuge from the enemy!

12 All your fortifications are fig trees with ripe fruit; when the trees are shaken, the fruit falls into the mouth of the eater.

13 Look, your people are women in your midst. The gates of your land have been flung wide open to your enemies. Fire consumes the bars of your gates.

14 Draw water for yourself to prepare for siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Tread the clay, trample the mortar, grab the brick mold!

15 Fire will consume you there; the sword will cut you down; like the locust it will consume you. Multiply like the locust; multiply like the grasshopper!

16 You boasted more traders than the heavens have stars. The locust sheds its skin and flies away.

17 Your guards are like grasshoppers, your marshals like swarms of cicadas that encamp on stone fences on a chilly day; when the sun rises, they take flight; no one knows where they have gone.

18 Your shepherds have fallen asleep, king of Assyria! Your officials are lying down. Your people are scattered across the mountains; there is no one to gather them.

19 There is no remedy for your injury; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you. Who has not suffered from your continual cruelty?

Nahum 3:10-19 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.