Nahum 3:1

1 Woe to the city of bloods, all of leasing, full of rending; raven shall not go away from thee. (Woe to the city of bloodshed, or to the murderous city, all of lies, full of tearing apart; all the spoils, or the prey, shall never be taken away from thee.)

Nahum 3:1 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 3:1

Woe to the bloody city
Nineveh, in which many murders were daily committed; innocent blood shed; the lives of men taken away, under the colour of justice, by false witnesses, and other unlawful methods; and which was continually making war with neighbouring nations, and shedding their blood, which it stuck not at, to enlarge its wealth and dominions; and therefore "woe" is denounced against it; and it is threatened with the righteous judgments of God, with all sorts of calamity and distress: or, "O bloody city", as the Septuagint; for the word used is vocative, and expressive of calling, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe: it [is] all full of lies [and] robbery;
the palace and court; the houses of noblemen and common persons were full of flattery and deceit; men of high degree were a lie, and men of low degree vanity; no man could trust another, or believe what he said; there were no truth, honesty, and faithfulness, in conversation or commerce; their warehouses were full of goods, got by rapine and violence; and their streets full of robbers and robberies: the prey departeth not;
they go on in making a prey of their neighbours, in pillaging and plundering their substance; they repent not of such evil practices, nor desist from them; or because of the above sins they shall fall a prey to the enemy, who will not cease plundering them till he has utterly stripped them of all they have; and who is represented in the next verse ( Nahum 3:2 ) as just at hand.

Nahum 3:1 In-Context

1 Woe to the city of bloods, all of leasing, full of rending; raven shall not go away from thee. (Woe to the city of bloodshed, or to the murderous city, all of lies, full of tearing apart; all the spoils, or the prey, shall never be taken away from thee.)

2 Voice of scourge, and voice of rush of wheel, and of horse making noise, and of [a] four-horsed cart burning, (The sound of the scourge, and the sound of the rush of wheels, and of horses making noise, and of charging carts with four horses,)

3 and of knight going up, and of shining sword, and glistening spear, and of [the] slain multitude, and of grievous falling, neither there is end of carrions. And they shall fall together in their bodies, (and of horsemen going up, or mounting, and of shining swords, and of glistening spears, and of the slain multitude, and of grievous falling, and there is no end of corpses. Yea, they shall altogether fall, or shall stumble, over all the bodies,)

4 for the multitude of [the] fornications of the whore fair and pleasant, and having witchcrafts; which sold folks in her fornications, and families in her enchantments, either sorceries. (for the multitude of the fornications of Nineveh the whore, who is beautiful and pleasing, and useth witchcrafts; she who duped nations by her fornications, and families by her enchantments, or her sorceries.)

5 Lo! I to thee, saith the Lord God of hosts; and I shall show thy shameful things in thy face; and I shall show to folks thy nakedness, and to realms thine evil fame, either shame. (Lo! I am against thee, saith the Lord God of hosts; and I shall show thy shameful, or thy private, parts in public; yea, I shall show thy nakedness to the nations, and thy shame to every kingdom.)