NAHUM, CHAPTER 3
The miserable
ruin of Nineveh.
Nah 3:1 WOE to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;
Nah 3:2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.
Nah 3:3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:
Nah 3:4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.
Nah 3:5 Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
Nah 3:6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.
Nah 3:7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
Nah 3:8 Art thou better than populous No*, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?
[*Note: No (also known as No-Amon or Thebes) was a powerful and well-known
city in ancient Egypt (Jeremiah 46:25). The KJV translated it as ‘populous No’
to emphasise that the city of No was a powerful and populous city. This provides
a clear contrast with Nineveh and the city of No is in the Bible an example of
a great and proud city that relied on its power and its gods, yet fell under
God's judgement]
Nah 3:9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.
Nah 3:10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
Nah 3:11 Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.
Nah 3:12 All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs: if they be shaken*, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.
[*Note: KJV, uses a strong metaphor to describe how easily the strongholds of
Nineveh will fall once they are attacked. The strongholds, which symbolise
their fortifications and defences, are likened to fig trees with ripe fruits
that fall easily at the slightest touch. The imagery suggests that Nineveh's
defences are fragile and that when their enemies attack, their defences will
collapse without resistance, just like ripe figs falling into the eater's mouth
at the slightest shake. It emphasises the vulnerability of the city to the
coming judgment]
Nah 3:13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.
Nah 3:14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.
Nah 3:15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat* thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm*, make thyself many as the locusts.*
[*Note: The expression “the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm”; that the sword shall eat you, is not a strange expression, the illustration of being eaten by a sword is reminiscent of what we express it today “cannon fodder” to become food for the cannons.]
[*Note: “cankerworm”. The Hebrew
word yeleq (יֶלֶק) was translated in the KJV as “cankerworm”
to illustrate the Hebrew term for destructive insects, such as locusts or
caterpillars, thus conveying the extent of the destruction described by the
prophet Nahum. - Webster's Dictionary 1828 defines ‘cankerworm’ as a type of
caterpillar or butterfly larva. (cankerworm is also called inchworms, loopers,
or spanworms.]
Nah 3:16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.
Nah 3:17 Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
Nah 3:18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.
Nah 3:19 There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?