Nahum 3

1 How terrible it will be for the city that has killed so many. It is full of lies and goods stolen from other countries. It is always killing somebody.

2 Hear the sound of whips and the noise of the wheels. Hear horses galloping and chariots bouncing along!

3 Horses are charging, swords are shining, spears are gleaming! Many are dead; their bodies are piled up -- too many to count. People stumble over the dead bodies.

4 The city was like a prostitute; she was charming and a lover of magic. She made nations slaves with her prostitution and her witchcraft.

5 "I am against you, Nineveh," says the Lord All-Powerful. "I will pull your dress up over your face and show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame.

6 I will throw filthy garbage on you and make a fool of you. I will make people stare at you.

7 Everyone who sees you will run away and say, 'Nineveh is in ruins. Who will cry for her?' Nineveh, where will I find anyone to comfort you?"

8 You are no better than Thebes, who sits by the Nile River with water all around her. The river was her defense; the waters were like a wall around her.

9 Cush and Egypt gave her endless strength; Put and Libya supported her.

10 But Thebes was captured and went into captivity. Her small children were beaten to death at every street corner. Lots were thrown for her important men, and all of her leaders were put in chains.

11 Nineveh, you will be drunk, too. You will hide; you will look for a place safe from the enemy.

12 All your defenses are like fig trees with ripe fruit. When the tree is shaken, the figs fall into the mouth of the eater.

13 Look at your soldiers. They are all women! The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies; fire has burned the bars of your gates.

14 Get enough water before the long war begins. Make your defenses strong! Get mud, mix clay, make bricks!

15 There the fire will burn you up. The sword will kill you; like grasshoppers eating crops, the battle will completely destroy you. Grow in number like hopping locusts; grow in number like swarming locusts!

16 Your traders are more than the stars in the sky, but like locusts, they strip the land and then fly away.

17 Your guards are like locusts. Your officers are like swarms of locusts that hang on the walls on a cold day. When the sun comes up, they fly away, and no one knows where they have gone.

18 King of Assyria, your rulers are asleep; your important men lie down to rest. Your people have been scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to bring them back.

19 Nothing can heal your wound; your injury will not heal. Everyone who hears about you applauds, because everyone has felt your endless cruelty.

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Nahum 3 Commentary

Chapter 3

The sins and judgments of Nineveh. (1-7) Its utter destruction. (8-19)

Verses 1-7 When proud sinners are brought down, others should learn not to lift themselves up. The fall of this great city should be a lesson to private persons, who increase wealth by fraud and oppression. They are preparing enemies for themselves; and if the Lord sees good to punish them in this world, they will have none to pity them. Every man who seeks his own prosperity, safety, and peace, should not only act in an upright, honourable manner, but with kindness to all.

Verses 8-19 Strong-holds, even the strongest, are no defence against the judgments of God. They shall be unable to do any thing for themselves. The Chaldeans and Medes would devour the land like canker-worms. The Assyrians also would be eaten up by their own numerous hired troops, which seem to be meant by the word rendered "merchants." Those that have done evil to their neighbours, will find it come home to them. Nineveh, and many other cities, states, and empires, have been ruined, and should be a warning to us. Are we better, except as there are some true Christians amongst us, who are a greater security, and a stronger defence, than all the advantages of situation or strength? When the Lord shows himself against a people, every thing they trust in must fail, or prove a disadvantage; but he continues good to Israel. He is a strong-hold for every believer in time of trouble, that cannot be stormed or taken; and he knoweth those that trust in Him.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Chapter Summary

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.