Nahum 3:8-9

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.

Nahum 3:8-9 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 6

  • 1. Amos 6:2
  • 2. S Jeremiah 46:25
  • 3. Isaiah 19:6-9
  • 4. S Genesis 10:6; S 2 Chronicles 12:3
  • 5. S Ezekiel 27:10
  • 6. Ezekiel 30:5

Footnotes 1

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