King James Version
Nahum 3
19 verses with commentary
Woe to Nineveh
Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; bloody: Heb. city of bloods
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KJV Study Commentary
Chapter 3 opens with a cry: 'Woe to the bloody city!' (hoy ir damim). The Hebrew hoy is both lament and denunciation—a funeral dirge for the living. 'Bloody city' (ir damim) emphasizes Nineveh's violence and cruelty. 'It is all full of lies and robbery' (kullah kachash pereq mele'ah). Lies (kachash) refers to deception, false promises, and treaty violations. Robbery (pereq) suggests violent plunde...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(1) **Woe to the bloody city**!—Better, *O bloody city! She is altogether deceit, filled with crime: she ceases not from plunder.*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**24. True, O king--**God extorted this confession from His enemies' own mouths.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 3
Nebuchadnezzar's golden image. (Dn 3:1-7) Shadrach and his companions refuse to worship it. (Dn 3:8-18) They are cast into a furnace, but are miraculously preserved. (Dn 3:19-27) Nebuchadnezzar gives glory to Jehovah. (Dn 3:28-30)
**Verses 1-7** In the height of the image, about thirty yards, probably is included a pedestal, and most likely it was only covered with plates of gold, ...
Read full commentary →The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels</strong> (<em>qol shot veqol ra'ash ophan</em>, קוֹל שׁוֹט וְקוֹל רַעַשׁ אוֹפָן)—Nahum creates an auditory assault depicting Nineveh's invasion. The crack of the <em>shot</em> (שׁוֹט, whip) driving horses forward, and the <em>ra'ash</em> (רַעַשׁ, rattling/rumbling) of <em>ophan</em> (אוֹפָן, wheel) creates chaotic soundscape ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **The noise of** . . .—Better, *Hark to the whip, and hark to the rattling of the wheel, and the horse galloping, and the chariot bounding.* The entry of the victorious besiegers is here described.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**25. four--**whereas but three had been cast in.
**loose--**whereas they had been cast in "bound." Nebuchadnezzar's question, in Da 3:24, is as if he can scarcely trust his own memory as to a fact so recent, now that he sees through an aperture in the furnace what seems to contradict it.
**walking in ... midst of ... fire--**image of the godly unhurt, and at large (Joh 8:36), "in the midst of...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 3
Nebuchadnezzar's golden image. (Dn 3:1-7) Shadrach and his companions refuse to worship it. (Dn 3:8-18) They are cast into a furnace, but are miraculously preserved. (Dn 3:19-27) Nebuchadnezzar gives glory to Jehovah. (Dn 3:28-30)
**Verses 1-7** In the height of the image, about thirty yards, probably is included a pedestal, and most likely it was only covered with plates of gold, ...
Read full commentary →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: the bright: Heb. the flame of the sword, and the lightning of the spear
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear</strong> (<em>parash ma'aleh velahav cherev uveraq chanit</em>)—cavalry (<em>parash</em>, פָּרָשׁ) charges with flashing (<em>lahav</em>, לַהַב) sword (<em>cherev</em>, חֶרֶב) and lightning-like (<em>baraq</em>, בָּרָק) spear (<em>chanit</em>, חֲנִית). The words <em>lahav</em> (flame) and <em>baraq</em> (lightning) emph...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **The horseman lifteth up**.—Better, *There is the rearing horseman and the flaming sword, and the glittering lance, and a multitude of wounded, and a mass of corpses* . . .
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**26. the most high God--**He acknowledges Jehovah to be supreme above other gods (not that he ceased to believe in these); so he returns to his original confession, "your God is a God of gods" (Da 2:47), from which he had swerved in the interim, perhaps intoxicated by his success in taking Jerusalem, whose God he therefore thought unable to defend it.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 3
Nebuchadnezzar's golden image. (Dn 3:1-7) Shadrach and his companions refuse to worship it. (Dn 3:8-18) They are cast into a furnace, but are miraculously preserved. (Dn 3:19-27) Nebuchadnezzar gives glory to Jehovah. (Dn 3:28-30)
**Verses 1-7** In the height of the image, about thirty yards, probably is included a pedestal, and most likely it was only covered with plates of gold, ...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
Nahum depicts Nineveh as a prostitute: 'Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts' (merov zenunei zonah tovath chen ba'alath keshaphim). Sexual imagery describes political-military seduction—Nineveh made alliances, then betrayed them. 'Wellfavoured' (tovath chen) means attractive, charming—Assyria presented itself as desirable ally. 'Mistress...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4-6) Because of the multitude.—In the idolatry and superstition of Nineveh the prophet finds the cause of her destruction. Perversion of religious instinct is frequently denounced under the same figure in Scripture. Here, however, a more literal interpretation is possible, since there is reason to believe the religious rites of Assyria were characterised, like those of Babylon, by gross sensualit...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**27. nor ... an hair--**(Lu 12:7; 21:18).
**fire had no power--**fulfilling Is 43:2; compare He 11:34. God alone is a "consuming fire" (He 12:29).
**nor ... smell of fire--**compare spiritually, 1Th 5:22.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 3
Nebuchadnezzar's golden image. (Dn 3:1-7) Shadrach and his companions refuse to worship it. (Dn 3:8-18) They are cast into a furnace, but are miraculously preserved. (Dn 3:19-27) Nebuchadnezzar gives glory to Jehovah. (Dn 3:28-30)
**Verses 1-7** In the height of the image, about thirty yards, probably is included a pedestal, and most likely it was only covered with plates of gold, ...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
God threatens Nineveh with humiliation: "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." The Hebrew <em>hineni eleyka ne'um YHWH tzeva'ot vegilleiti shulayikh al-panayikh veher'eti goyim ma'arekh umamlarekh qalonekh</em> (הִנְנִי אֵלַיִךְ נְאֻם יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת וְגִלֵּיתִי שׁוּל...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
28. In giving some better traits in Nebuchadnezzar's character, Daniel agrees with Jr 39:11; 42:12.
**changed the king's word--**have made the king's attempt to coerce into obedience vain. Have set aside his word (so "alter ... word," Ezr 6:11) from regard to God. Nebuchadnezzar now admits that God's law should be obeyed, rather than his (Ac 5:29).
**yielded ... bodies--**namely, to the fire.
...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 3
Nebuchadnezzar's golden image. (Dn 3:1-7) Shadrach and his companions refuse to worship it. (Dn 3:8-18) They are cast into a furnace, but are miraculously preserved. (Dn 3:19-27) Nebuchadnezzar gives glory to Jehovah. (Dn 3:28-30)
**Verses 1-7** In the height of the image, about thirty yards, probably is included a pedestal, and most likely it was only covered with plates of gold, ...
Read full commentary →And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And I will cast abominable filth upon thee</strong> (<em>vehishlakalti aleyka shiqqutim</em>, וְהִשְׁלַכְתִּי עָלַיִךְ שִׁקֻּצִים)—God threatens to hurl (<em>shalak</em>, שָׁלַךְ) disgusting things (<em>shiqqutim</em>, שִׁקֻּצִים) upon Nineveh. The term <em>shiqqutim</em> often refers to idols or abominations but here likely means literal filth, excrement, or refuse. This was ancient punis...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
29. This decree promulgated throughout the vast empire of Nebuchadnezzar must have tended much to keep the Jews from idolatry in the captivity and thenceforth (Psa 76:10).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 3
Nebuchadnezzar's golden image. (Dn 3:1-7) Shadrach and his companions refuse to worship it. (Dn 3:8-18) They are cast into a furnace, but are miraculously preserved. (Dn 3:19-27) Nebuchadnezzar gives glory to Jehovah. (Dn 3:28-30)
**Verses 1-7** In the height of the image, about thirty yards, probably is included a pedestal, and most likely it was only covered with plates of gold, ...
Read full commentary →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?
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KJV Study Commentary
This prophetic judgment against Nineveh opens with the prophetic formula <strong>"it shall come to pass"</strong> (<em>wehayah</em>), emphasizing the certainty of God's word. The reaction described is universal: <strong>"all they that look upon thee shall flee"</strong> (<em>kol-ro'ayik yiddod</em>)—those who see Nineveh's destruction will recoil in horror and distance themselves from her fate.<br...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **Shall flee** from thee.—As in the case of the destruction of Korah, men flee from the stricken city lest they share her punishment. Nor is she an object of compassion whose cruelties have been as extensive as her empire. Hers is the fate of the fallen tyrant—left to
__________“vainly groan.
With pangs unfelt before, unpitied and alone.”
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 3
Nebuchadnezzar's golden image. (Dn 3:1-7) Shadrach and his companions refuse to worship it. (Dn 3:8-18) They are cast into a furnace, but are miraculously preserved. (Dn 3:19-27) Nebuchadnezzar gives glory to Jehovah. (Dn 3:28-30)
**Verses 1-7** In the height of the image, about thirty yards, probably is included a pedestal, and most likely it was only covered with plates of gold, ...
Read full commentary →Nineveh's Inevitable Destruction
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? populous: or, nourishing, etc: Heb. No Amon
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KJV Study Commentary
Continuing the comparison with Thebes, Nahum asks: '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?' This rhetorical question highlights Thebes' strategic advantages—situated on the Nile with water defenses. Yet despite these natural advantages and great wealth, Thebes fell to Assyria...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **Populous No.**—Better, *No Amon.* Thebes, the capital of Upper Egypt, was known to the Hebrews as “No Amon” (perhaps, “house of the god Amon;” similarly the Greeks called it Διόσπολις). Assyria herself had reduced the power of Thebes. (1) Sargon, the father of Sennacherib, had defeated Shebah, the Egyptian Tar-dan, at Rapikh, cir. B.C. 716. (2) Esar-haddon, Sennacherib’s son, had routed the ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** True devotion calms the spirit, quiets and softens it, but superstition and devotion to false gods inflame men's passions. The matter is put into a little compass, Turn, or burn. Proud men are still ready to say, as Nebuchadnezzar, Who is the Lord, that I should fear his power? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not hesitate whether they should comply or not. Life or death were no...
Read full commentary →Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite ; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. thy helpers: Heb. in thy help
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite</strong> (<em>Kush ve'Mitzrayim otzmah ve'eyn qetseh</em>, כּוּשׁ וּמִצְרַיִם עָצְמָה וְאֵין קֵצֶה)—continuing the comparison with Thebes (No-Amon), Nahum lists her allies. <em>Kush</em> (כּוּשׁ, Ethiopia/Nubia) and <em>Mitzrayim</em> (מִצְרַיִם, Egypt) were her might (<em>otzmah</em>, עָצְמָה), endless (<em>eyn qetseh</em>, אֵין קֵ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 4 Da 4:1-37. Edict of Nebuchadnezzar Containing His Second Dream, Relating to Himself.
Punished with insanity for his haughtiness, he sinks to the level of the beasts (illustrating Psa 49:6, 12). The opposition between bestial and human life, set forth here, is a key to interpret the symbolism in the seventh chapter concerning the beasts and the Son of man. After his conquests, and his b...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** True devotion calms the spirit, quiets and softens it, but superstition and devotion to false gods inflame men's passions. The matter is put into a little compass, Turn, or burn. Proud men are still ready to say, as Nebuchadnezzar, Who is the Lord, that I should fear his power? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not hesitate whether they should comply or not. Life or death were no...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity</strong> (<em>gam-hi lagolah halekah bashevi</em>)—despite all advantages and allies, Thebes went into exile (<em>golah</em>, גֹּלָה) and captivity (<em>shevi</em>, שֶׁבִי). <strong>Her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets</strong> (<em>gam olaleyha yeruttechu berosh kol-chutzot</em>)—even infants were das...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. I thought it good--**"It was seemly before me" (Psa 107:2-8).
**signs--**tokens significant of God's omnipotent agency. The plural is used, as it comprises the marvellous dream, the marvellous interpretation of it, and its marvellous issue.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** True devotion calms the spirit, quiets and softens it, but superstition and devotion to false gods inflame men's passions. The matter is put into a little compass, Turn, or burn. Proud men are still ready to say, as Nebuchadnezzar, Who is the Lord, that I should fear his power? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not hesitate whether they should comply or not. Life or death were no...
Read full commentary →Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou also shalt be drunken</strong> (<em>gam-at tishkeri</em>, גַּם־אַתְּ תִּשְׁכְּרִי)—after describing Thebes' fate, Nahum turns directly to Nineveh: 'you also' will be drunk. Drunkenness here symbolizes divine judgment—the cup of God's wrath. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other prophets use this metaphor: nations 'drink' judgment until they stagger and collapse. The comparison is devastating: j...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11, 12) **Thou also shalt be drunken**.—Nineveh also shall be *drunken* with the cup of God’s wrath (see Habakkuk 2:16), yea, *hid* from recollection, so that men shall ask, “Where is Nineveh?” (Comp. Nahum 2:11.) She, too, shall vainly *seek a fortress* (Authorised Version, “strength”) to give her shelter, all her own strongholds having fallen as easily as the ripe fruit from the fig-tree.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** True devotion calms the spirit, quiets and softens it, but superstition and devotion to false gods inflame men's passions. The matter is put into a little compass, Turn, or burn. Proud men are still ready to say, as Nebuchadnezzar, Who is the Lord, that I should fear his power? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not hesitate whether they should comply or not. Life or death were no...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs</strong> (<em>kol-mibtzerekha te'enim im-bikkurim</em>, כָּל־מִבְצָרֶיךָ תְּאֵנִים עִם־בִּכּוּרִים)—Nineveh's fortifications (<em>mivtzar</em>, מִבְצָר, strongholds) are compared to fig trees (<em>te'en</em>, תְּאֵן) with early ripe figs (<em>bikkur</em>, בִּכּוּר). First-ripe figs were delicacies, eagerly anticipated bec...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. I was ... at rest--**my wars over, my kingdom at peace.
**flourishing--**"green." Image from a tree (Jr 17:8). Prosperous (Job 15:32).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** True devotion calms the spirit, quiets and softens it, but superstition and devotion to false gods inflame men's passions. The matter is put into a little compass, Turn, or burn. Proud men are still ready to say, as Nebuchadnezzar, Who is the Lord, that I should fear his power? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not hesitate whether they should comply or not. Life or death were no...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women</strong> (<em>hinneh ammekh nashim beqirbek</em>, הִנֵּה עַמֵּךְ נָשִׁים בְּקִרְבֵּךְ)—Nahum declares Nineveh's warriors have become like women. In ancient warfare culture, this wasn't denigrating women generally but using gendered language to describe military weakness and fear. Warriors expected to fight courageously instead cower like no...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Thy people . . . are women,** not in their notoriously effeminate and luxurious habits (see Layard, p. 360), but with reference to their panic-stricken condition at the time of the catastrophe. They are fearful as women (comp. Jeremiah 50:37; Jeremiah 51:30), because they find avenues laid open to the enemy, and the remaining defences consuming in the flames.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** True devotion calms the spirit, quiets and softens it, but superstition and devotion to false gods inflame men's passions. The matter is put into a little compass, Turn, or burn. Proud men are still ready to say, as Nebuchadnezzar, Who is the Lord, that I should fear his power? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not hesitate whether they should comply or not. Life or death were no...
Read full commentary →Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds</strong> (<em>mei matzor shi'avi-lak chazzeqi mibtzerayik</em>)—Nahum ironically commands Nineveh to prepare for siege: draw (<em>sha'av</em>, שָׁאַב) water for siege (<em>matzor</em>, מָצוֹר) and strengthen (<em>chazaq</em>, חָזַק) fortifications (<em>mivtzar</em>, מִבְצָר). Sieges required massive water storage since supply lines w...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **Draw thee waters.**—In this desperate plight Nineveh is scoffingly advised to protract her resistance. The outer walls are broken down; let her hold out in the citadel. Nay, let her begin anew her preparations for defence. Let her lay in water and provision, and build new buttresses of brick. What shall it avail her? In the midst of her preparations, fire and sword shall again surprise her....
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
6. It may seem strange that Daniel was not first summoned. But it was ordered by God's providence that he should be reserved to the last, in order that all mere human means should be proved vain, before God manifested His power through His servant; thus the haughty king was stripped of all fleshly confidences. The Chaldees were the king's recognized interpreters of dreams; whereas Daniel's interpr...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** True devotion calms the spirit, quiets and softens it, but superstition and devotion to false gods inflame men's passions. The matter is put into a little compass, Turn, or burn. Proud men are still ready to say, as Nebuchadnezzar, Who is the Lord, that I should fear his power? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not hesitate whether they should comply or not. Life or death were no...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Dual Imagery of Destruction:</strong> This verse employs two destructive forces—fire and sword—representing complete and inescapable judgment from multiple directions. The Hebrew "devour" (<em>akal</em>) literally means "to eat" or "consume," suggesting total annihilation, while "cut off" (<em>karath</em>) implies severing or destroying, often used in covenant-breaking contexts to indicate...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15, 16) The diversion of metaphor here is somewhat repugnant to modern taste. The sword, like the locust, shall devour Nineveh. Yet Nineveh is immediately afterwards compared in its numbers, destructive influence, and sudden disappearance to the locust. It is a transition like St. Paul’s “going off at a word.” The comparison of the locust suggests the thought that Nineveh herself has been a locus...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** True devotion calms the spirit, quiets and softens it, but superstition and devotion to false gods inflame men's passions. The matter is put into a little compass, Turn, or burn. Proud men are still ready to say, as Nebuchadnezzar, Who is the Lord, that I should fear his power? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not hesitate whether they should comply or not. Life or death were no...
Read full commentary →Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away. spoileth: or, spreadeth himself
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven</strong> (<em>hirbeit rokheleykh mikkokhevei hashamayim</em>, הִרְבֵּית רֹכְלַיִךְ מִכּוֹכְבֵי הַשָּׁמָיִם)—Nineveh increased (<em>rabah</em>, רָבָה) its traders (<em>rokhel</em>, רֹכֵל, merchants/traders) beyond counting, compared to stars (<em>kokhav</em>, כּוֹכָב) of heaven. This describes Nineveh's vast commercial empire—trad...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **Spoileth.**—Better, *spreads itself out:* swarms out to spoil.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. Belteshazzar--**called so from the god Bel or Belus (see on Da 1:7).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** True devotion calms the spirit, quiets and softens it, but superstition and devotion to false gods inflame men's passions. The matter is put into a little compass, Turn, or burn. Proud men are still ready to say, as Nebuchadnezzar, Who is the Lord, that I should fear his power? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not hesitate whether they should comply or not. Life or death were no...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
Nahum uses locust imagery: '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' (minzarayik katarbeh vetiphsarayik kegov govay hachonim bagederoth beyom qarah shemesh zarachah venodad velo-noda meqomo ayyam). Assyrian officials and military leaders...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Thy crowned.**—The subordinate kings who represent the Assyrian empire in her tributary provinces.
**Captains.**—*Taphs*’*rîm,* an Assyrian term denoting some high military office. The sudden disappearance of the Assyrian locust-pest is here enlarged upon. A sudden outburst of sunshine will sometimes induce a swarm of locusts to take flight; cold, on the other hand, makes these insects sett...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. spirit of the holy gods--**Nebuchadnezzar speaks as a heathen, who yet has imbibed some notions of the true God. Hence he speaks of "gods" in the plural but gives the epithet "holy," which applies to Jehovah alone, the heathen gods making no pretension to purity, even in the opinion of their votaries (De 32:31; compare Is 63:11). "I know" refers to his knowledge of Daniel's skill many years b...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** True devotion calms the spirit, quiets and softens it, but superstition and devotion to false gods inflame men's passions. The matter is put into a little compass, Turn, or burn. Proud men are still ready to say, as Nebuchadnezzar, Who is the Lord, that I should fear his power? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not hesitate whether they should comply or not. Life or death were no...
Read full commentary →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. nobles: or, valiant ones
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KJV Study Commentary
Nahum pronounces Nineveh's epitaph: 'Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust' (namu ro'eyka melek Ashur yishkenu addirekha). Shepherds (ro'im) represent leaders and rulers. They 'slumber' (namu)—sleep the sleep of death. Nobles 'dwell in the dust' (yishkenu)—inhabit graves. Leadership is dead. 'Thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth th...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **Shepherds**—*i.e.*, chief officers, as in Micah 5:2 and *passim.* Their sheep are “scattered upon the mountains and none attempts to gather them.” So Micaiah announces to Ahab, “I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills as sheep that have not a shepherd” (1Kings 22:17).
**Thy nobles shall dwell.**—Better, *thy mighty men are lying still.*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. tree--**So the Assyrian is compared to a "cedar" (Eze 31:3; compare Eze 17:24).
**in the midst of the earth--**denoting its conspicuous position as the center whence the imperial authority radiated in all directions.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** True devotion calms the spirit, quiets and softens it, but superstition and devotion to false gods inflame men's passions. The matter is put into a little compass, Turn, or burn. Proud men are still ready to say, as Nebuchadnezzar, Who is the Lord, that I should fear his power? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not hesitate whether they should comply or not. Life or death were no...
Read full commentary →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? healing: Heb. wrinkling
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KJV Study Commentary
Nahum concludes with Nineveh's irreversible doom: "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?" The Hebrew <em>eyn kehah leshivrekha nachlah makkateykha kol shom'ei shim'akha taq'u khaph aleyka ki al-mi lo-averah ra'ateykha tamid</em> (אֵין־כֵּהָה לְשִׁבְרֶךָ נַחְ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **Clap the hands over thee.**—All that hear the “bruit” or report of the fall of Nineveh clap their hands with joy (Psalm 47:1), for where has not her oppressive rule been felt? The verse is addressed to the king (second person masculine) as the representative of the empire, perhaps also in view of his terrible end. The cruelty of the Ninevite *régime* is illustrated, as Kleinert remarks, in ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-27** Let Nebuchadnezzar heat his furnace as hot as he can, a few minutes will finish the torment of those cast into it; but hell-fire tortures, and yet does not kill. Those who worshipped the beast and his image, have no rest, no pause, no moment free from pain, Rev. 14:10,11. Now was fulfilled in the letter that great promise, Is. 43:2, When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt n...
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