Nahum 3

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Nahum 3

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

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.

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:

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.

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.

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

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?

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?

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

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.

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

12 All 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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

Notes

Cross Reference

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 1

<html>robbery Heb. פֶּרֶק, robbery, that one breaks it away from the hand of its owner. the prey departs not—from its [i.e., the city’s] midst, it will never depart.</html>

Verse 2

<html>The sound of the scourge—The sound of striking the horses was always heard therein. and the sound of the noise—of the wheels of the chariots. and galloping horses Heb. דֹּהֵר, skipping and jumping. And so it is in (Jud. 5:22) “By reason of the prancings, the prancings of their mighty ones.”</html>

Verse 3

<html>and the blade of the sword Heb. וְלַהַב ; lame in French; for a knife and a sword are called לַהַב. [Some mss. have: The blade of every sword is called: לַהַב, as in (Jud. 3:22) “And the haft also went in after the blade (הַלַהַב).” and the burnished spear—A burnished spear, with the light glittering from it. Splendor in O.F, a shine. yea, the heaps of corpses—They would make many corpses, and there was no count of the bodies of the dead cast therein, to the extent that the passersby would stumble on the bodies of the dead.</html>

Verse 4

<html>Because of the many harlotries of the harlot—Because of the extensive flattery of the city, for they knew how to seduce the kings of the earth to join them, and they would eventually subordinate [these kings] to them.</html>

Verse 5

<html>your skirts Heb. שׁוּלַיִךְ. They are the hems of a woman’s garments. your nakedness Heb. מַעֲרֵךְ, your exposure, as in (Micah 1:11) “With your private parts exposed (עֶרְיָה).”</html>

Verse 6

<html>detestable things—Filthy garments, which make you detestable. Scripture speaks according to the topic, for he [Nahum] compared her [Nineveh] to a harlot. like dung Heb. כְּרֹאִי. Like dung, an expression like (Lev. 1:16) “And he shall remove its crop (מֻרְאָתוֹ) with its intestines.”</html>

Verse 7

<html>shall wander away from you—Shall distance himself from you.</html>

Verse 8

<html>Are you better than No-amon—Why should you rely on your wealth and your might? Are you greater than No-amon? That is, Alexandria of Egypt. Amon is an expression of a pedagogue. [Are you greater] than the great No, which trained the kings of Egypt, for they would anoint the kings there? whose wall was the sea to whom the sea was their rampart and their wall. [This mode of construction is known in Aramaic as] שורה ובר שורה, a wall and the son of a wall [referring to a large wall on the outside, opposite an inside of which is built a small wall].</html>

Verse 9

<html>Cush was [its] strength—The Cushites were its strength. Put and the Lubim—The Putim and the Lubim, who were your helpers, were also in her [Assyria’s] army.</html>

Verse 10

<html>She, too, went into exile—She, too, went into exile. Nevertheless, their greatness did not stand up before Nebuchadnezzar. were bound Heb. רֻתְּקוּ, were fettered; an expression similar to (Isa. 40:19) “And chains (וּרְתֻּקוֹת) of silver” and (Ezek. 7:23) “Make the chain (הָרַתּוֹק),” meaning a chain. in chains Heb. בַזִּקִּים, chains.</html>

Verse 11

<html>You, too—(Even) according to your greatness, [you] shall become drunk like her with the cup of weakness (Cf. Isa. 51:17), and you shall disappear.</html>

Verse 12

<html>All your fortresses—It shall be easy to conquer all your fortified cities and to ravage all that is in their midst, like the fig trees when they are with their first ripe fruits; when the tree is shaken, the first ripe fruits fall into the mouth of the eaters. fig trees Heb. תְּאֵנִים, fig trees. they be shaken—which, if they be shaken hard by a man.</html>

Verse 14

<html>Draw siege water for yourself—When a city is about to be besieged, the people of the city gather much water into its midst in barrels, [so that they will have water] to drink during the days of the siege, when there are no cisterns within it [the city]. come into the clay and tread—it, to make bricks therefrom, in order to strengthen the cracks in the wall. grasp the brickmold—Hold the brickmold, which is made for a mold of the bricks in your hand, to make bricks in it.</html>

Verse 15

<html>You shall be swept away Heb. הִתְכַּבֵּד, with a broom of destruction. like the nibbling locust—which finishes and destroys completely all the vegetation of the field. Some interpret: -Heb. הִתְכַּבֵּד כַּיָּלֶק. You shall be covered heavily with troops like the nibbling locust, wherein הִתְכַּבֵּד is an expression of a heavy people (עַם כֶּבֶד).</html>

Verse 16

<html>the nibbling locust spreads out and flies away—They will swiftly go out for commerce like the locust that spreads out [its wings] and flies.</html>

Verse 17

<html>Your princes Heb. מִנְּזָרַיִךְ, your princes. The “mem” is a radical and a root of the word, like the “mem” of מִשְׁמַרְתְּךָ, your watch (Num. 18:3); of מִשְׁמַעְתֶּךָ, your service (I Sam. 22:14); and of מִנְעָלֶךָ, your lock (Deut. 33:25). But sometimes the “mem” is defective; e.g., נְזִיר אֶחָיו, the prince of his brothers (Gen. 49:26); and, similarly, לִנְזָרִים, princes (Amos 2:11). and your marshal Heb. יְטַפְסְרַיִךְ. Your appointees. like armies of locust Heb. כְּגוֹב גּוֹבָי, like armies of locusts. גּוֹבָי is comme langouste in French, like locusts. which alight on the walls on a cold day—So is the habit of the numerous locust, the fly, the finishing locust, and the nibbling locust; during the cold times they adhere to the walls, and when warmth comes they fly away from there and go away. So will all your people be exiled. and it flies away Heb. וְנוֹדַד, and it moves. and its place is not known where they are—Where they are and where they went.</html>

Verse 18

<html>Your leaders slumber Heb. נָמוּ, an expression of slumber are at rest—They cannot stand up. are scattered Heb. נָפָשׁוּ, like נָפֹצוּ, as all letters emanating from one source are interchangeable. “Zayin,” “shin,” “sammech,” and “tzaddi” all emanate from the tip of the tongue and the bottom of the teeth.</html>

Verse 19

<html>No one is pained over your destruction—No one is troubled over your destruction, for everyone rejoices. כֵּהָה is an expression of a darkened thing. clap hands—to rejoice.</html>

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Table of Contents

Nahum 3

Nahum 3

Notes

Cross Reference

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 1

Verse 2

Verse 3

Verse 4

Verse 5

Verse 6

Verse 7

Verse 8

Verse 9

Verse 10

Verse 11

Verse 12

Verse 14

Verse 15

Verse 16

Verse 17

Verse 18

Verse 19