The fall of Nineveh is described in detail.
Nahum 3:1, Woe!
Woe to the city of blood,
full of lies,
full of plunder,
never without victims!
The city of Nineveh is described as a city of blood. A horrible image.
Scholars debate as to whether this verse should be viewed as the end of 2:11-13, or whether it starts a new section. The Masoretic Text has a break between 2:13 and 3:1 and so modern texts follow that pattern, putting this verse into chapter 3.
The exclamation "Woe!" (Hebrew hoy) shouts at the reader; he/she is to pay careful attention to the coming warning of calamity.
Nahum 3:3-4, City of witchcraft
The crack of whips,
the clatter of wheels,
galloping horses
and jolting chariots!
Charging cavalry,
flashing swords
and glittering spears!
Many casualties,
piles of dead,
bodies without number,
people stumbling over the corpses--
all because of the wanton lust of a harlot,
alluring, the mistress of sorceries,
who enslaved nations by her prostitution
and peoples by her witchcraft.
In a stream of short phrase, Nahum vividly describes the coming chaos in Nineveh. The "city of blood" dies under cracking whips, fast-paced chariots and cavalry racing down the street. The bodies pile up so that people stumble over the corpses in the street. All of this is because this city of lies has enslaved and seduced other nations.
The Hebrew of verse 2 begins with qol, ("noise") and ends with raqad ("clattering"), bookends for the verse. (Commentators point out numerous other chiastic structure in the book of Nahum.)
Nahum 3:5-7, Skirts over your face
"I am against you," declares the LORD Almighty.
"I will lift your skirts over your face.
I will show the nations your nakedness
and the kingdoms your shame.
I will pelt you with filth,
I will treat you with contempt
and make you a spectacle.
All who see you will flee from you and say,
`Nineveh is in ruins--who will mourn for her?'
Where can I find anyone to comfort you?"
This passage begins with a strong statement: "I am against you!" Once powerful Nineveh will now be embarrassed and put to shame, just like people might punish (in the ANE) a prostitute. The prostitute Nineveh is described as a spectacle of filth, nakedness and shame. (Verse 6 is a tricolon of synthetic parallelism:
I will pelt you with filth,
I will treat you with contempt,
I will make you a spectacle)
Armerding (p. 482) says that after the fall of Nineveh, the ruins were unoccupied for more than three centuries. Its ruins (says Wikipedia) lie on the eastern side of the Tigris River, opposite the modern city of Mosul, Iraq.
Nahum 3:8-10, Like Thebes
Are you better than Thebes,
situated on the Nile,
with water around her?
The river was her defense,
the waters her wall.
Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength;
Put and Libya were among her allies.
Yet she was taken captive
and went into exile.
Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street.
Lots were cast for her nobles,
and all her great men were put in chains.
Nahum describes the destruction of Thebes, which occurred in 663 BC. By some accounts, this included a flooding of the city, similar to the flooding that will occur in the later sack of Nineveh. As the destruction of Nineveh occurred in 612 BC, most commentators date the book of Nahum to a time between 663 and 612 BC.
It was Assyria that sacked Thebes. The capital of Assyria will also be sacked, in a like manner, says Nahum. Verse 10 has five line that dramatize the destruction of Thebes, beginning with the parallelism
she was taken captiveshe went into exile
followed by three vivid lines of destruction and atrocities.
Nahum 3:11-12, Ripe for harvest
You too will become drunk;
you will go into hiding
and seek refuge from the enemy.
All your fortresses are like fig trees with their first ripe fruit;
when they are shaken, the figs fall into the mouth of the eater.
The three vivid parallel lines at the end of verse 10 are matched by three lines describing the defeat of Nineveh.
You too will become drunk;you will go into hiding;you will seek refuge from the enemy.
Nineveh is ripe for conquest -- a mere shaking of the trees will bring the figs into the mouth of its conqueror.
Nahum 3:13-15, Wide open gates
Look at your troops-- they are all women!
The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies;
fire has consumed their bars.
Draw water for the siege,
strengthen your defenses!
Work the clay,
tread the mortar,
repair the brickwork!
There the fire will devour you;
the sword will cut you down and,
like grasshoppers, consume you.
Multiply like grasshoppers,
multiply like locusts!
In the culture of the ANE, calling soldiers "women" was an insult. It described a weak and vulnerable army and therefore a land asking for defeat. Verses 14 and 15 are taunts:
Go ahead, do your best!
It won't matter if you strengthen the defense
or multiply your soldiers like locusts!
As Longman argues, the metaphor of the locust swarm is inverted -- here the swarm, associated now with Assyria, flees away at first light.
The gobbling metaphor of verse 12, above, in whih ripe figs drop into enemy mouths continues with an enemy that "devours" and "consumes" Nineveh, like the locusts devour the land.
Nahum 3:16-17, Swarms fly away
You have increased the number of your merchants
till they are more than the stars of the sky,
but like locusts they strip the land
and then fly away.
Your guards are like locusts,
your officials like swarms of locusts
that settle in the walls on a cold day--
but when the sun appears they fly away,
and no one knows where.
Although the merchants multiply like locusts and become as plentiful as the stars in the sky, "when the sun appears", they will all fly away.
Nahum 3:18-19, Cruelty repaid
O king of Assyria, your shepherds slumber;
your nobles lie down to rest.
Your people are scattered on the mountains
with no one to gather them.
Nothing can heal your wound;
your injury is fatal.
Everyone who hears the news about you
claps his hands at your fall,
for who has not felt your endless cruelty?
The Assyrians will be scattered. Their infamous cruelty has been feared by all but now all the nations will rejoice at their destruction. Everyone claps at the news of the fall of Nineveh!
First published July 23, 2025; updated July 23, 2025
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