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Nahum 3

KJV · Chapter 3/3

1Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;

2The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.

3The 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:

4Because 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.

5Behold, 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.

6And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.

7And 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?

8Art 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?

9Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.

10Yet 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.

11Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.

12All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.

13Behold, 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.

14Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.

15There 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.

16Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.

17Thy 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.

18Thy 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.

19There 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?

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Nahum condemns Nineveh as a 'bloody city' full of lies and plunder, comparing its inevitable fall to the destruction already suffered by Thebes of Egypt, and declares that no one will mourn its downfall.

Explanation

The final chapter intensifies the accusation: Nineveh did not fall by chance, but because of its systematic violence ('the bloody city... the prey departeth not') and its use of political and commercial manipulation ('witchcrafts' and 'whoredoms' symbolizing deceitful alliances) to enslave other nations. The comparison with No-amon (Thebes, the Egyptian capital destroyed by the Assyrians themselves decades earlier) is a powerful irony: the very power that destroyed a great city would experience the same fate. The book closes with the realization that no one would weep over Nineveh's fall, since its cruelty had reached 'continually' every neighboring nation. The application for today: systematic violence against others eventually reaps its own consequences, and a reputation built on cruelty earns no compassion when the fall finally comes.

Fun facts

  • No-amon, mentioned in verse 8, is the Egyptian-Hebrew name for Thebes, one of the most important cities of ancient Egypt, sacked by the Assyrians themselves in 663 BC — a historical event documented in both Egyptian and Assyrian records.
  • Assyria's vast commercial reach is confirmed archaeologically: cuneiform tablets found across various parts of the Middle East reveal an extensive Assyrian trade network, matching Nahum's description of 'merchants' more numerous than the stars of heaven.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Nahum 3:1"Bloody city... full of lies and robbery" sums up Assyria's historical reputation: an empire known for military cruelty and the systematic plunder of conquered peoples.
  2. Nahum 3:2The noise of whips, wheels, horses, and chariots describes the sound of a city under invasion — almost a sound effect of war put into words.
  3. Nahum 3:3The poetry continues brutal on purpose: swords, spears, and a pile of bodies so large that survivors trip over them as they flee.
  4. Nahum 3:4Nineveh is personified as a "harlot" and "mistress of witchcrafts" who "selleth nations" — an image of political seduction, with the empire's alliances and trade used to enslave other nations.
  5. Nahum 3:5"Discover thy skirts" was a public humiliation, exposing someone's nakedness as shame; here it is God Himself who promises to expose Nineveh before all the nations.
  6. Nahum 3:6God promises to throw filth on Nineveh and put it on display as a spectacle — the complete opposite of the image of power the city had cultivated.
  7. Nahum 3:7No one will mourn Nineveh when it falls: the prophet even imagines passersby asking who is left to comfort the destroyed city.
  8. Nahum 3:8"No-amon" is the name of Thebes, Egypt's capital, which fell to the Assyrian army itself in 663 BC; the prophet uses that powerful city's fall as proof that Nineveh is not invincible either.
  9. Nahum 3:9Ethiopia, Egypt, Put, and Lubim were powerful allies of Nineveh — but not even that network of international support will stop the city's fall.
  10. Nahum 3:10The reference is to the real fall of Thebes (No-amon), Egypt's capital: children killed in the streets, leaders bound in chains — the same fate now announced for Nineveh.
  11. Nahum 3:11"Thou also shalt be drunken" repeats the image of the cup of judgment: Nineveh will go through the same dizziness and despair it caused other peoples.
  12. Nahum 3:12Nineveh's strongholds are compared to fig trees loaded with ripe figs: just shake the tree and the fruit falls easily into the mouth of whoever is picking — the city will fall without much resistance.
  13. Nahum 3:13Comparing Nineveh's soldiers to "women" was a mockery of the time about military cowardice — the city's gates will be left wide open for the enemy to walk in.
  14. Nahum 3:14The ironic call to reinforce the defenses — draw water, tread the clay, repair the bricks — sounds like one last useless effort in the face of what has already been decided.
  15. Nahum 3:15Fire and sword will consume Nineveh the way a swarm of locusts devours a field — no matter how hard the city tries to recover, it will do no good.
  16. Nahum 3:16Nineveh's merchants, more numerous than the stars, made up the empire's trade network — but like locusts, they will simply fly away when the crisis hits.
  17. Nahum 3:17Nineveh's leaders and nobles are compared to locusts that vanish as soon as the sun grows hot — a presence that looks large but disappears fast when real danger comes.
  18. Nahum 3:18The king of Assyria loses his leaders and watches his people scatter across the mountains with no one left to gather them again — the central command simply collapses.
  19. Nahum 3:19"There is no healing of thy bruise" closes the book with no comfort at all for Nineveh — unlike the ending of Jonah, here everyone who hears the news will clap their hands in relief, not sorrow.

Chapters

123

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