Nahum 3
About NahumWritten by AI
Nahum is a prophecy against Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. About a century after Jonah, when Nineveh had repented, the city had returned to its old cruelty. Assyria had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and terrorized the region. Nahum, from Elkosh, probably wrote between the fall of Thebes in 663 BC, which he mentions, and Nineveh's fall in 612 BC.
This is hard reading, full of battle scenes and judgment. It helps to remember who first heard it: people who had suffered under Assyria for generations. For them it was good news that God sees violence and will not let it go on forever.
Watch how the book balances God's justice with His care. He is slow to anger and will not leave the guilty unpunished, and also: “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of distress.”
Before you read Nahum 3Written by AI
A woe on Nineveh, the city of blood, lies, and plunder. Nahum compares it to Thebes in Egypt, which also seemed safe and fell. The images of Nineveh's shame are harsh, and they mirror what Assyria did to others. The book ends by noting that everyone who hears of its fall will clap, because all had felt its cruelty.
Judgment on Nineveh
Woe to the city of blood,
full of lies,
full of plunder,
never without prey.
The crack of the whip,
the rumble of the wheel,
galloping horse
and bounding chariot!
Charging horseman,
flashing sword,
shining spear;
heaps of slain,
mounds of corpses,
dead bodies without end—
they stumble over their dead—
because of the many harlotries of the harlot,
the seductive mistress of sorcery,
who betrays nations by her prostitution
and clans by her witchcraft.
“Behold, I am against you,”
declares the LORD of Hosts.
“I will lift your skirts over your face.
I will show your nakedness to the nations
and your shame to the kingdoms.
I will pelt you with filth
and treat you with contempt;
I will make a spectacle of you.
Then all who see you
will recoil from you and say,
‘Nineveh is devastated;
who will grieve for her?’
Where can I find
comforters for you?”
Are you better than Thebes,
stationed by the Nile with water around her,
whose rampart was the sea,
whose wall was the water?
Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength;
Put and Libya were her allies.
Yet she became an exile;
she went into captivity.
Her infants were dashed to pieces
at the head of every street.
They cast lots for her dignitaries,
and all her nobles were bound in chains.
You too will become drunk;
you will go into hiding
and seek refuge from the enemy.
All your fortresses are fig trees
with the first ripe figs;
when shaken, they fall
into the mouth of the eater!
Look at your troops—
they are like your women!
The gates of your land
are wide open to your enemies;
fire consumes their bars.
Draw your water for the siege;
strengthen your fortresses.
Work the clay and tread the mortar;
repair the brick kiln!
There the fire will devour you;
the sword will cut you down
and consume you like a young locust.
Make yourself many like the young locust;
make yourself many like the swarming locust!
You have multiplied your merchants
more than the stars of the sky.
The young locust strips the land
and flies away.
Your guards are like the swarming locust,
and your scribes like clouds of locusts
that settle on the walls on a cold day.
When the sun rises, they fly away,
and no one knows where.
O king of Assyria, your shepherds slumber;
your officers sleep.
Your people are scattered on the mountains
with no one to gather them.
There is no healing for your injury;
your wound is severe.
All who hear the news of you
applaud your downfall,
for who has not experienced
your constant cruelty?