Nahum 3:3-13

3 Charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses—
4 all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft.
5 “I am against you,” declares the LORD Almighty. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame.
6 I will pelt you with filth, I will treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle.
7 All who see you will flee from you and say, ‘Nineveh is in ruins—who will mourn for her?’ Where can I find anyone to comfort you?”
8 Are you better than Thebes, situated on the Nile, with water around her? The river was her defense, the waters her wall.
9 Cush[a] and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were among her allies.
10 Yet she was taken captive and went into exile. Her infants were dashed to pieces at every street corner. Lots were cast for her nobles, and all her great men were put in chains.
11 You too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy.
12 All your fortresses are like fig trees with their first ripe fruit; when they are shaken, the figs fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Look at your troops— they are all weaklings. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has consumed the bars of your gates.

Nahum 3:3-13 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.

Cross References 31

  • 1. 2 Kings 19:35; Isaiah 34:3; Jeremiah 47:3
  • 2. S Isaiah 47:9
  • 3. S Isaiah 23:17; Ezekiel 16:25-29
  • 4. S Nahum 2:13
  • 5. S Isaiah 20:4; Jeremiah 13:22
  • 6. S Isaiah 47:3
  • 7. S Exodus 29:14; S Job 9:31
  • 8. S 1 Samuel 2:30; S Jeremiah 51:37
  • 9. Isaiah 14:16
  • 10. S Isaiah 13:14; S Isaiah 31:9
  • 11. S Nahum 1:1
  • 12. S Job 3:14
  • 13. S Jeremiah 15:5
  • 14. S Isaiah 51:19
  • 15. Amos 6:2
  • 16. S Jeremiah 46:25
  • 17. Isaiah 19:6-9
  • 18. S Genesis 10:6; S 2 Chronicles 12:3
  • 19. S Ezekiel 27:10
  • 20. Ezekiel 30:5
  • 21. S Isaiah 20:4
  • 22. S 2 Kings 8:12; S Isaiah 13:16; Hosea 13:16
  • 23. S Job 6:27; S Ezekiel 24:6
  • 24. S Jeremiah 40:1
  • 25. S Isaiah 49:26
  • 26. S Isaiah 2:10
  • 27. S Song of Songs 2:13
  • 28. S Isaiah 28:4
  • 29. S Isaiah 19:16; Jeremiah 50:37
  • 30. S Nahum 2:6
  • 31. S Isaiah 45:2

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. That is, the upper Nile region
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