Nahum 3

Nahum describes Nineveh’s coming fall in vivid pictures: chariots, corpses, public shame, and a failed defense. God judges the proud city for its bloodshed, deceit and cruelty. Its fate is no more surprising than that of Thebes, which also looked unshakable. The book ends with a king whose people are scattered and a world that rejoices at the fall of its tormentor.

Nahum 3:1

Nineveh, capital of Assyria, is called a city of blood. Its power rested on violence, lies and endless robbery of other nations. Nahum opens with a cry of grief for a city that does not yet know it is dying.

Nahum 3:2-3

The prophet makes us hear and see the attack: whips cracking, wheels rumbling, horses galloping, swords and spears flashing. Then comes the horror of piled corpses so many that people trip over them. The city that spread slaughter now meets it.

See also: Habakkuk 2:8.

Nahum 3:4

Nineveh is pictured as a seductive woman who lures nations with charm and sorcery, then enslaves them. Her alliances and trade looked attractive but were a trap. God judges deceit that dresses itself up as friendship and prosperity.

See also: Revelation 17:1-5.

Nahum 3:5

God himself speaks, and his words are stark: he is against Nineveh. Lifting her skirts is a picture of public humiliation, the exposure of a proud city’s shame before every nation. The mighty are not beyond his reach.

See also: Isaiah 47:2-3; Jeremiah 50:31.

Nahum 3:6

Nineveh will be pelted with filth and made a public spectacle. The city that humiliated others will be treated with contempt. God’s justice often matches the sin, so that the proud are brought low in the same way they brought others low.

Nahum 3:7

Those who see the ruin will turn away. No one will mourn for the city, and God asks where he could find comforters for her. Cruelty leaves a city friendless in its hour of need. Her fall brings relief, not sorrow.

Nahum 3:8-9

Nineveh is asked to look at Thebes, the great Egyptian city on the Nile. It was protected by water and backed by allies from Cush, Put and Libya. It looked unconquerable. Strength of position and alliance does not stop God’s judgment.

Nahum 3:10

Thebes fell to Assyria itself, and the Assyrians did to her what they did to others: exile, babies dashed to pieces, nobles chained and shared out by lot. Nahum’s point is that Nineveh will receive the same treatment she once gave.

See also: Obadiah 1:15.

Nahum 3:11

Nineveh will drink the cup of judgment and stagger like a drunk. She will try to hide and find shelter from her enemies. Pride gives way to helplessness. The whole picture is of a city struck down and lost.

See also: Jeremiah 25:15-16.

Nahum 3:12

Nineveh’s fortresses look strong but are like fig trees with early ripe fruit. One shake and the figs fall into the eater’s mouth. The defenses will not hold. Her enemies will take them with hardly any effort.

Nahum 3:13

Her soldiers will be as frightened as women, a common ancient picture of helplessness in war. The city gates stand open, and fire destroys the bars. Defenses that guarded Nineveh for generations will fail all at once.

Nahum 3:14

In irony, God tells Nineveh to prepare for siege: draw water, strengthen forts, make bricks, repair the kilns. These are all sensible steps, but they will not matter. When God has decided, even the best human preparations prove useless.

See also: Psalm 127:1.

Nahum 3:15

Fire and sword will devour the city as locusts devour a field. Nineveh is told to multiply like locusts, but numbers will not save her. A huge population and army are no refuge when God opposes a nation.

See also: Joel 1:4.

Nahum 3:16

Nineveh grew rich through merchants more numerous than the stars. But like locusts, these traders strip the land and fly away. When the crisis comes, wealth and those who profit from it will not stay to defend the city.

See also: Ezekiel 27:3.

Nahum 3:17

Her guards and scribes are compared to locusts on cold walls, still while it is chilly but gone when the sun warms them. Officials who looked dependable will vanish when trouble comes, and no one will know where they went.

See also: John 10:12-13.

Nahum 3:18

Nahum speaks to the king of Assyria. His shepherds, meaning his leaders, are asleep, and the people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them. A nation without faithful leaders falls apart in disaster.

See also: Ezekiel 34:5; Matthew 9:36.

Nahum 3:19

Nineveh’s wound cannot be healed. All who hear of her fall clap their hands, because everyone has suffered her endless cruelty. The book ends with a question that shows God’s moral verdict: such wickedness cannot go on forever.

See also: Jonah 4:11.