Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 16 Feb. 2025
Omitting greyed-out text should bring delivery time down to about 45 minutes.
Read
my translation of Nahum 1:
Nineveh’s
judgment-prophecy, the record of Nahum the Elkoshite’s vision:
Yahweh is a super-jealous and avenging God. Yahweh is an avenger and
a master of fury! Yahweh is an avenger against His adversaries;
indeed He is a grudge-holder against His enemies! Yahweh is
long-suffering, yet great in power, and He will certainly not acquit
the guilty. As for Yahweh, His way is in the storm-wind and in the
tempest, and the clouds are the dust under His feet. When He rebukes
the sea, He makes it become dry land, and He dries up all the
rivers. Bashan withers, and also Carmel; even the blossom of Lebanon
withers! The
mountains bucked away from Him, and the hills dissolved. The very
earth heaves away from His face, indeed the world and all the
inhabitants in it! Who will stand before His rage? And who will rise
up during the fierceness of His anger? His fury is rained down like
fire, and the landmark-rocks are broken down by Him. Yahweh is good
for a stronghold during a day of crisis, and He knows those who take
refuge in Him. But with a flood passing over, He will make an end of
her place, and, as for His enemies, darkness will hunt them down.
9
What are y’all
planning against Yahweh? He is making an end [of it.] The oppressor
will not rise up a second time, because they are always bunched
briers or like their beer they are imbibing: they will be consumed
like fully-dried straw. It was from you that the man who planned
evil against Yahweh came forth – the counselor of ungodliness.
Thus says Yahweh, “Although there are peaceful-circumstances even
so there will be many even so they will be shorn, then, he will pass
on. Thus will I humble you; I will not humble you again. And now, I
will break his carrying-pole from off of you, and I will tear off
your chains. And Yahweh will command concerning you, “Let there be
no dissemination of your name again. I will cut off carved-image and
cast-image from the house of your gods; I will appoint it to be your
grave, because you are despised. See, the feet of an announcer upon
the mountains, causing peace to be heard! “Celebrate your feasts,
Judea; make good on your vows, because the ungodly will not presume
again to pass through you; he has been entirely cut off.”
Nahum starts this passage with a word of warning directed at anyone foolish enough to think that that they can finagle themselves out of God’s vengeance (v.2) or stand up against the might of God’s power and escape punishment (v.3) or withstand the intensity of His indignation and burning anger (v.6) and avoid going down in darkness to hell (v.8). Anyone who thinks that it is not the end when God says, “That’s the end of that” (v.8) is in for a rude awakening!
Humanity in rebellion against God likes to think it is free to do whatever it wants. We want our will to be done, so we spend vast amounts of time imagining/devising/planning how we are going to accomplish what we want apart from God.
Psalm 2:1-11 “What have the nations clamored for and peoples vainly meditate for? Kings of the earth set themselves up, and distinguished men establish unity against Yahweh and against His Anointed One. ‘Let us burst their chains and let us throw their bindings from us.’ The one sitting in the heavens laughs, the master mocks at them... You will break them with a rod of iron; like a potter's vessel you will shatter them. So now, O kings, consider wisely. Be disciplined, O judges of earth. Serve Yahweh with fear and rejoice with trembling.” (NAW)
Whatever your plans are, God also has a plan, and He is sovereignly rolling it out and making His plan happen. You can either submit to Him as your God, align yourself with doing His will, and then enjoy His power to “cause all things to work together for good for those who love Him” (Rom. 8:28) or continue to pursue your plan and get in His way and get squashed like a bug.
That’s kind-of what Nahum is saying in the second half of v.9. God can put an effective stop to anything He doesn’t want to keep happening, and in this case, He has decided to make a final end of the city of Nineveh because of its wickedness, oppression, and heedlessness to His warning. The termination of the city of Nineveh, He says, will be so complete that it will never again rise up to oppress/afflict/distress/trouble anyone ever again. There will be no second rise-to-power for Nineveh.
Regarding God’s judgment on another city, Isaiah 28:22 says, “And now, don't you scoff! Otherwise your bonds will become strong. For I have heard from my Lord, Yahweh Commander of armies; it is complete and decided over all the land.” (NAW)
In v.10, Nahum uses some very original and poetic language to describe the reason why God will put an end to Nineveh such that it cannot rise up to oppress anyone again.
It is unfortunate that the NAS, NIV, and NLT omit the word “because/for” but that word is there in all the manuscripts and in all the other versions at the beginning of v.10.
Nahum compares the Assyrians to tangled1 thorns, to alcoholic drinks, and to dried-out haystalks, poetically using four words in a row that all start with the same sound in Hebrew.
Why does he compare these people to briars, beer, and straw? All three share the same verb: they are all things which are easily “consumed:”
thorns and stubble catch fire easily and burn up quickly, and strong drink is guzzled down quickly by those who want to be drunk (as indeed the Assyrians were known for being hard drinkers2).
This challenges the human pride of a nation that thought they were so strong that they would be impossible to consume; God says, “Nah, it’ll be a pushover. You are so dead in your sin and rebellion that I’ll light a spark, and poof you’ll be gone!”
Furthermore, briers, wine, and leftover grain-stalks are all things that people want consumed:
we burn sticker-bushes because we want them gone so they don’t poke us,
drinkers drink because they want to consume that alcohol,
and stubble is basically trash that we want to dispose of.
2 Samuel 23:6 “The ungodly, however, is like a thorn-plant: all of them are cast-away, because that's not what folks take in hand” (NAW, cf. Micah 7:4)
So, in saying this, God is insulting the nation that has rejected His mercy and attacked His people, saying that the world will be happy to see Nineveh brought to an end3.
But these warnings are not just for the Assyrians of the Ancient Near East; they are for everybody in every age.
The Prophet Isaiah delivered similar messages to the Jews: Isaiah 5:11 “Woe to those who, early in the morning, pursue alcohol; after dusk wine inflames them… 5:22-24 Woe, those who are champions for drinking wine and men of valor for mixing alcohol4 ... Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble, and flame withers5 the dry grass, their root will be like rottenness, and their flower will go up like dust, for they have rejected the law of Yahweh Commander of armies, and the word of the Holy One of Israel they have despised... 10:17 The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers6 in one day... 47:14 Look, they have become like stubble; a fire burns7 them. They will not cause their own soul to be delivered from the agency of the flame...” (NAW)
Job (21:18), Malachi (4:1), and Joel (2:5) also contain similar warnings about how quickly God’s judgment can devour anyone at enmity with Him.
Alcohol (and by implication, recreational drugs of any kind) is particularly called-out because of how common it is for the ungodly to use these things to help them forget about God and forget about His truth and justice.
The prophets Micah (2:11), Joel (1:5), and Habakkuk (2:15) gave similar warnings about the folly of pursuing drunkenness instead of pursuing the ways of the Lord.
Jesus also warned in Luke 21:34 “...take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.” (NKJV)
And the Apostle Paul wrote to the church
in Romans 13:13 “Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.” (NKJV)
and in Ephesians 5:18 “...do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit” (NKJV).
In typical Hebrew prose, the Assyrians in Nineveh are referred to in second person plural (“y’all”) in v.9, then as third plural (“they”) in v.10, and then as singular “you” in v.11. This makes it hard for us to follow in English, but it all seems to be referring to the same subject.
In verse 11, Nahum builds on the word “plot/devise/imagine” from v.9 to single out one particular man who “went forth” from Nineveh8 “plotting/devising/imagining evil against the Lord.” He ends verse 11 by calling this man a “counselor of Belial” – that is, of wickedness/ worthlessness/ungodliness.
Who is this man?
The verb “went forth” is usually used in the Bible to describe kings leaving their hometown to go out to war, so it is likely describing a particular king.
And the perfect tense of the verb “went forth” indicates that he is a historical figure from the past,
19th Century commentator E. B. Pusey explains, “[A]mid this mass of evil, one was eminent, in direct antagonism to God…. The prophet twice repeats the characteristic expression, What will ye devise so vehemently against the LORD … devising evil against the LORD; and adds counselor of evil. This was exactly the character of Sennacherib, whose wars, like those of his forefathers (as appears from the cuneiform inscriptions) were religious wars, and who blasphemously compared God to the local deities of the countries which his forefathers or himself had destroyed.”
Isaiah’s earlier prophecy against Assyria bears this out: notice the repeated reference to what is going on in the Assyrian king’s “heart,” the use of the same word Nahum used for “devising/imagining/plotting,” and the extensive quote about what this king was thinking and planning: Isaiah 10:5-12 God says, “Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! Against a godless nation [that is, against Israel which had abandonded God] I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so imagine/plot/devise; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few; for he says: ‘Are not my commanders all kings? ... As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images?’ When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.” (NAW)
Listen to the way this guy talked, and notice the way he plays mind games with God’s people, as quoted by Isaiah in chapter 36: “...Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, 'What is this faith which you believed? You said, "Surely a word of the lips is counsel and strength for the war." Now upon whom did you trust that you rebelled against me? Look, you trusted upon the support of this crushed reed, upon Egypt, which a man leans upon it and it goes into his palm and punctures it. Thus is Pharaoh, king of Egypt to all trust upon him. And if you should say to me, “To Yahweh our God we trusted.” Isn't he the one who Hezekiah removed – His high-places and His altars – and he said to Judah and to Jerusalem “to the face of THIS altar you shall bow”? So now, how about be nice... and let me give to you a thousand horses... And how will you turn the face of a single captain of my lord's servants – even the small ones? … And now, is it apart from Yahweh I come up against this land to destroy it? Yahweh has said to me, “Go up to this land to destroy it!” ...Do not let Hezekiah cause deception for you, for he is not able to deliver you… Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus said the king of Assyria, “Make a blessing with me and come out to me, and eat each of you of his vine and each of his fig-tree and drink each of you water of his cistern… Have any of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ... Which are they among all the gods of these lands that delivered their land from my hand, that Yahweh will deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”’” (vs. 4-20, NAW)
That sure sounds like the “wicked/ungodly/worthless counsel” Nahum is talking about in v.11, proclaimed to everyone in Jerusalem.
Of course Sennacherib was not the only one in history to give ungodly counsel (see, for instance, Ezekiel 11:2), but his bad advice is typical9.
The Apostle Paul uses the same Greek words for “plotting/devising/imagining” and “counseling” that are in the Greek translation of Nahum. He tells us what to do with human thinking:
2 Cor. 10:5 “we are casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”
Romans 6:11 “... reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (NKJV)
1 Corinthians 13:5 “Love… does not think evil” (NAW)
Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (KJV)
Now, after addressing the Assyrians and their ungodly strategy-leader in verses 9-11, God turns to address His people in verse 12.
The feminine singular “you” at the end of verse 12 that God says He would “humble/afflict/ put in bondage” once, but never again, seems to be Jerusalem (This parallels the statement in v.9 that Nineveh would not “rise up” to be the “oppressor” “a second time”).
V.12 is difficult to translate10 because it is hard to correlate the three plurals that occur in parallel at the beginning: “shaloms” “many” and “those being cut.”
The first two sound positive – “peace” and “prosperity,” and most commentators interpret them as descriptions of Assyria’s peace and prosperity11, for instance the ancient Jewish Targum paraphrase reads, “...Though the nations which assemble to oppress you, O Jerusalem, are perfect in counsel and many in number, and though they cross the Tigris and pass over the Euphrates and come to afflict you, even if I have brought you into servitude I shall not enslave you again.” (Cathcart)
However, I think that the Hebrew grammar calls for us to interpret it as Judah’s “peace” and “prosperity” rather than the Assyrians’. One reason is that the third word in the list is in strong parallel with the second one12, so I think that at least the “many” and “those being cut” have to be describing the same group of people.
But that third word sounds negative. When we look at how that word gzz (“cut”) is used in the Bible, it is only ever used to describing cutting hair, so I think it should be interpreted in terms of some kind of loss, not of death and destruction.
Finally, whereas the three adjectives – “shaloms,” “many,” and “those being sheared” - are plural, the “one who passes on/through/away” is singular, so I think that indicates a change of subject to the oppressor13.
Here’s how I put it all together: I think that the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrian King Sennacherib could fit circumstances of “peace” and “plenty” in which God brought “affliction” upon His people and allowed the Assyrian army to give them a “close shave,” but then, God sent a plague upon the Assyrian army and caused the singular “strategist” (King Sennacherib, described in the previous verse14) to “pass on” without actually destroying the people of Jerusalem (Isaiah 37:36).
The only significant difficulty I see with that interpretation is how Nahum could say that God would not subjugate His people again after their “close shave” with Sennacherib when, in fact, a century later God did subjugate Judea again under King Nebuchadnezzar.
The only way I see to reconcile that is to go back to the phrase in v.9 indicating that it would not be Assyria a second time, thus the Jews in Nahum’s audience need not fear that the Assyrian army would ever bother them again15, and that would be historically true.
Nahum’s point is that when God deals with our enemies, God can effectively neutralize them, so we don’t need to live in fear.
Isaiah 10:33-34 Behold, the Lord Yahweh Commander of armies will lop the boughs with terrifying power; the great in height will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low. He will cut around the thickets of the forest with an axe, and Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.” (NAW)
“[W]hatever the Prophet has hitherto said against the Assyrians out to be extended indiscriminately to all the enemies of the Church… whenever the ungodly cause trouble to us, they carry on war with God himself… God sets up himself as a shield and declares that He will protect us under the shadow of His wings all those who commit themselves to His protection.” ~J. Calvin
Verse 12 also speaks to God’s sovereign work of sanctifying His people through sending affliction that will get them back to the right attitude of humility and dependence on Him to save and protect them.
Psalm 78:38 “But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, And did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, And did not stir up all His wrath” (NKJV)
Lamentations 3:32 “Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies." (NKJV)
Nahum pictures God’s salvation in v.13 like an animal-rescuer ripping off the halters and yoke-equipment from a horse so that it can run free.
God is the savior of His people. He is the one you must go to if you want freedom.
He delivered Israel from bondage in the past – such as slavery in Egypt, as Jeremiah 2:20 says, “For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds...” (NKJV)
God freely admitted that He used foreign subjugation to discipline His people, but when that discipline had served its good purpose, He would renew their freedom: Psalm 107:11-15 “Because they rebelled against the words of God, And despised the counsel of the Most High, Therefore He brought down their heart with labor; They fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And broke their chains in pieces. Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!” (NKJV)
At Nahum’s point in history, the threat of foreign oppression was coming from the Assyrians up north in Nineveh, but God is promising that their domination will also be temporary. Isaiah also prophecied this in Isaiah 10:27 “And in that day his burden [that of Assyria] will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke [עול] from your neck; and the yoke will be destroyed...’” (NAW, cf. 9:4 & 14:25). Indeed God wrought a marvelous deliverance for the people of Jerusalem when Sennacherib tried to besiege them in the year 701BC.
And God would deliver His people in the future too, after they had once again fallen into rebellion and after God had sent correction through yet another foreign power. Jeremiah prophecied in Jeremiah 30:7-11 “...it is the time of Jacob's trouble, But he shall be saved out of it. `For it shall come to pass in that day,' Says the LORD of hosts,`That I will break his yoke16 from your neck, And will burst your bonds; Foreigners shall no more enslave17 them. But they shall serve the LORD their God… Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,' says the LORD,`Nor be dismayed, O Israel; For behold, I will save you from afar, And your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, And no one shall make him afraid. For I am with you,' says the LORD,`to save you; Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, Yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, And will not let you go altogether unpunished.'” (NKJV)
And this goes on into the New Testament, when Jesus delivered people from bondage to evil spirits (Luke 9:42, 13:16) and from bondage to sin by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11ff).
And God’s deliverance will go on into the future, as we read Jesus’ command and promise in Revelation 2:25-28 “[H]old fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations – ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels’” and Romans 16:20 “...the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly….” (NKJV)
Now in v.14, the pronoun “you” switches back from referring to Israel to referring to the singular “schemer” who was the “you” back in verse 9 and the “he” in verses 11-1318.
Verse 14 is a very interesting prediction of the circumstances of the demise of this adversary against God who had afflicted God’s people. God decreed how it would happen in a very specific way:
The adversary’s ability to propagate his name through having more children would be disallowed, so his dynasty as king would end,
The carved (wooden) and cast (metal) idols in his pagan temple would be “cut off,”
God would make the house of this guy’s gods become the place of his burial,
and finally, it is explained that these three things would happen because this king would be considered contemptible/vile/despised – literally he would be considered a political “lightweight” that didn’t deserve any respect.
This sounds very much like Sennacherib.
Isaiah 37:36-38 “And the angel of Yahweh went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when they arose in the morning, ‘Look at all these dead bodies!’ Then Sennacherib king of Assyria pulled out and went and returned home and sat in Nineveh. And it happened that he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. Now they themselves escaped to the land of Ararat, and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.” (NAW)
A king who looses a war and most of his army and comes home like a dog with its tail between his legs, is not considered a great king, so that could be the fulfillment of Nahum’s 4th point19.
Historical accounts from the ancient Assyrians indicate that Sennacherib subsequently did conduct a successful war-campaign against Babylon, capping it off by removing Babylon’s patron-god-idol and adding it to his collection in Nineveh of idols of conquered countries, which is an interesting fit with Nahum’s reference to a temple with multiple idols of various types in it.
Then, of course, the fact that Sennacherib was murdered while worshiping in that temple perfectly fulfills the third point that Nahum prophecied, such that the temple of his gods became his grave. It is believed that due to the murder, all the idols in the temple of Nisroch were defiled and so had to be destroyed or removed20, fulfilling the second point of Nahum’s prophecy.
Finally, in fulfillment of Nahum’s first point: Sennacherib’s two older sons who killed him are thought by many to have been upset at their father for passing over them and instead choosing their younger brother to be the next king. Sennacherib’s youngest son successfully took over the throne and killed his brothers, but within 70 years, his great grandson was killed in battle, and that ended Sennacherib’s dynasty forever – the kingdom of Assyria did not exist anymore21. Ezekiel 32:22 “Assyria is there [in the “pit” of hell], and all her company, With their graves all around her, All of them slain, fallen by the sword.” (NKJV)
The future tenses of this prophecy are making me lean toward an earlier date for Nahum, that is, during King Hezekiah’s reign before Sennacherib was assassinated rather than during Josiah’s reign 40 years after Sennacherib was assassinated.
That seems to corroborate with how similar Nahum’s prophecies are to Isaiah’s – even to sharing the exact same sentence in Isaiah 52:7 and Nahum 1:15, and Isaiah prophecied during Hezekiah’s reign, not later during Josiah’s22.
Anyway, Nahum’s prophecy seems to be about the Assyrian King Sennacherib, and all four points came to pass in history, proving God’s sovereignty over the greatest empire in the world at that time and giving God’s people peace of mind as they trusted God.
But this is not just about some strange king in the dust of antiquity, it is about God’s character and God’s ways of justice and salvation. These kinds of things will happen to anyone who, like this “plotter” Sennacherib, is “against God,” and is characterized by “debauchery,” “oppression,” and “idolatry.” The restriction of offspring, the destruction of idols, untimely death, and shameful contempt that Nahum declares concerning Sennacherib are the kind of temporal punishments which God has been issuing in His justice throughout all of history.
Job 18:17, speaking of the “wicked:” “The memory of him perishes from the earth, And he has no name among the renowned.” (NKJV)
Also, of the empire that arose after Assyria, God said in Isaiah 14:22 “‘I will... cut off from Babylon name and remnant, progeny and posterity...’” (NAW)
And of the people in Jerusalem, God said in Micah 5:13-14 “...I will cause to cut off your carved images and your monuments from your midst so you will not bow any more to the work of your hands...” (NAW)
That’s the bad news for those who are against God, but that bad news is good news for those who love and obey Jesus!
Once again the “you” switches to refer to the Jews instead of to the scheming adversary.
“on the mountains” could simply mean that God’s people are in a scattered condition23:
as we see later on in Nahum 3:18 “...Your people are scattered on the mountains, And no one gathers them in” and also 2 Chronicles 18:16 “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd.” (NKJV, cf. Lam. 4:19, Ezek. 32:5, Mat. 18:12)
Of course, the shrines for idol worship were also located “on the mountains24,” so this could also be good news from the one true God coming to people mired in the bad news of idolatry.
This good news of “peace”
seems most likely to me to be the messenger bearing news that Assyria has fallen and is no longer a threat to Judea, that the people can relax and go about normal life and regular worship rather than hunkering down in fear of another siege.
But Isaiah 52:7 seems to expand this same phrase from the “now” of Nahum’s time to 200 years later when the Jews returned from exile in Babylon: “How fitting are the feet of an announcer upon the mountains, causing peace to be heard, announcing goodness, causing salvation to be heard, saying to Zion, your God reigns!” (NAW)
and, in the New Testament, it is expanded again to describe the good news about Jesus Christ come to save His people from their sins:
Romans 10:9-15 “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved... For the Scripture says, ‘WHOEVER BELIEVES ON HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME.’ ... As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!’” (NKJV, cf. Acts 10:36)
In v.15, the announcer-evangelist proclaims that it is time to “Keep/celebrate the feasts and make good on vows.”
This isn’t just any feast. The first time in the Bible we encounter this phrase is in Exodus 12:14, at the institution of the Passover festival25,
and the other half-dozen times this phrase occurs in the Bible are in relation to the feast of Booths (Lev. 23:39, 41; Num. 29:12; Zech. 14:16, 18-19, & John 7).
These annual feasts were the times when everybody – even those who lived too far away to come every week – would gather to worship in the temple in Jerusalem, so these feasts were also their opportunity to do business in God’s special presence at the temple. Throughout the year, they might have promised to give something special to God as a way to say “Thank You” for His kindness in rescuing them from a crisis, so it was at the annual feast that they would have the opportunity to present that special gift to God. It was important that they remember to follow-through on those promises and not forget or procrastinate (Psalm 50:14, Eccl 7:4-7).
Then in the New Testament we have the same proclamation to “keep the feast,” only this time it refers to observing the Lord’s Supper at church after having excommunicated an unrepentant sinner: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 “...Christ, our Passover has already been sacrificed. In this way let us keep the feast – not with old leaven and not with leaven of malice and wickedness, but rather with what is unleavened, of sincerity and truth.” (NAW)
It is an interesting parallel to Nahum, who also connects observing the holy feasts in v.15 with knowing that the wicked/worthless/ungodly/Belial – that Gentile schemer against God – was gone and would not be back again to disseminate unholiness and defilement any more.
Isaiah voiced a similar sentiment regarding the Jews who, at a later time, would be released from captivity in Babylon. Isaiah 52:1 “Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion! Put on your garments of splendor, Jerusalem, City of the Holy One, because the uncircumcised and unclean will not come at you any more!” (NAW, cf. Joel 3:17) Once the defilement was over – once God has banished the evil, it is time to worship God and thank Him for His deliverance!
DouayB (Vulgate) |
LXXC |
BrentonD (Vaticanus) |
KJVE |
NAW |
Masoretic HebrewF |
9
What do ye devise
against the Lord? he will make an utter end: |
9
τί λογίζεσθε
ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον; συντέλειαν αὐτὸς
ποιήσεται, οὐκ |
9
What do ye devise
against the Lord? he will make a complete end: |
9 What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. |
9 What are y’all planning against Yahweh? He is making an end [of it.] The oppressor will not rise up a second time, |
(ט) מַה תְּחַשְּׁבוּן אֶלH יְהוָה כָּלָה הוּא עֹשֶׂה לֹא תָקוּם פַּעֲמַיִם צָרָה. |
10
For as
thorns
embrace
one another:
so while they are |
10
ὅτι ἕως |
10
For [the
enemy] shall
be |
10 For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. |
10 because they are always bunched briers or like their beer they are imbibing: they will be consumed like fully-dried straw. |
(י) כִּי עַדK סִירִיםL סְבֻכִיםM וּכְסָבְאָםN סְבוּאִים אֻכְּלוּ כְּקַשׁ יָבֵשׁ מָלֵא. |
11
Out of thee shall come forth one
that imagineth evil against the
Lord, contriving treachery
|
11
ἐκ σοῦ ἐξελεύσεται λογισμὸς
κατὰ τοῦ κυρίου πονηρὰ
λογιζόμενος |
11
Out of thee shall proceed a device
against the Lord, counselling
evil
things |
11 There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor. |
11 It was from you that the man who planned evil against Yahweh came forth – the counselor of ungodliness. |
(יא) מִמֵּךְ יָצָא חֹשֵׁב עַל יְהוָה רָעָה יֹעֵץ בְּלִיָּעַלP. |
12 Thus saith the Lord: Though they were perfect: and X many [of them so], yet thus shall they be cut off, and he shall pass: I have afflicted thee, and I will afflict thee no more. |
12
τάδε λέγει κύριος |
12
Thus saith the Lord |
12
Thus saith the LORD; Though
they
be
quiet, and
likewise
many, yet
thus
shall they be cut |
12 Thus says Yahweh, “Although there are peaceful-circumstances even so there will be many even so they will be shorn, then, he will pass on. Thus will I humble you; I will not humble you again. |
(יב) כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה אִם שְׁלֵמִיםR וְכֵן רַבִּים וְכֵן נָגֹזּוּS וְעָבָר וְעִנִּתִךְ לֹא אֲעַנֵּךְ עוֹד. |
13
And now I will break [in
pieces] his
rod
|
13 καὶ νῦν συντρίψω τὴν ῥάβδον αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ σοῦ καὶ τοὺς δεσμούς σου διαρρήξω· |
13 And now will I break his rod from off thee, and will burst thy bonds. |
13 For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. |
13 And now, I will break his carrying-pole from off of you, and I will tear off your chains. |
(יג) וְעַתָּה אֶשְׁבֹּר Tמֹטֵהוּ מֵעָלָיִךְ וּמוֹסְרֹתַיִךְ U אֲנַתֵּק. |
14 And the Lord will give a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name shall be sown: I will destroy the graven and molten thing out of the house of thy God, I will make it thy grave, for thou art disgraced. |
14 καὶ ἐντελεῖται ὑπὲρ σοῦ κύριος, οὐ σπαρήσεται ἐκ τοῦ ὀνόματός σου ἔτι· ἐξ οἴκου θεοῦ σου ἐξολεθρεύσω τὰ γλυπτὰ καὶ χωνευτά· θήσομαι ταφήν σου, ὅτι ταχεῖςV. |
14
And the Lord shall give a command
concerning
thee; there shall no more of thy name be
scattered:
I will [utterly]
destroy the graven image[s]
out of the house of thy godZ,
and the molten
image[s]
I will make thy grave; for |
14
And the LORD hath given a commandment
concerning
thee, that
no more of thy name be
sown:
out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and
the molten image: I will |
14 And Yahweh will command concerning you, “Let there be no dissemination of your name again. I will cut off carved-image and cast-image from the house of your gods; I will appoint it to be your grave, because you are despised. |
(יד) וְצִוָּה עָלֶיךָ יְהוָה לֹא יִזָּרַע מִשִּׁמְךָ עוֹד מִבֵּית אֱלֹהֶיךָ אַכְרִית פֶּסֶל וּמַסֵּכָה אָשִׂים קִבְרֶךָ כִּי קַלּוֹתָW. |
15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, [and] that preacheth peace: O Juda, keep thy festivals, [and] pay thy vows: for Belial shall no more pass through thee again, he is utterly cut off. |
2:1
Ἰδοὺ ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη οἱ πόδες
εὐαγγελιζομένου [καὶ]
ἀπαγγέλλοντος
εἰρήνην·
ἑόρταζε, Ιουδα, τὰς ἑορτάς σου,
ἀπόδος τὰς εὐχάς
σου, διότι οὐ μὴ προσθήσωσιν ἔτι
τοῦ διελθεῖν διὰ σοῦ εἰς παλαίωσιν
|
15
Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that brings glad
tidings, [and]
publishes
peace!
O Juda, keep thy feasts, pay
thy vows: for |
15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off. |
15 See, the feet of an announcer upon the mountains, causing peace to be heard! “Celebrate your feasts, Judea; make good on your vows, because the ungodly will not presume again to pass through you; he has been entirely cut off.” |
(א) הִנֵּה עַל הֶהָרִים רַגְלֵי מְבַשֵּׂר מַשְׁמִיעַ שָׁלוֹם חָגִּי יְהוּדָה חַגַּיִךְ שַׁלְּמִי נְדָרָיִךְ כִּי לֹא יוֹסִיף עוֹד לַעֲבוֹרX בָּךְ בְּלִיַּעַל כֻּלֹּהY נִכְרָת. |
1According to Lehrman, Metsudath David explained the “entanglement” of these thorns in terms of the Assyrians’ union with other political powers, and Kimchi explained it in terms of how much more likely you are to get pricked when there’s a tangle of brambles instead of just one. Calvin leaned more toward Kimchi’s explanation, equating “tangled” with “difficult to be handled.” So did Henry: “They make one another worse, and more inveterate against God…” Pusey posited all of the above and even more, adding, “confused...sharp...rending...compact together...”
2Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, Translated into English by G. Booth in 1700 AD, Book 2, Ch. 2, p. 67 describes how the Assyrian army was routed in the field by a coalition of forces that attacked them while they were all drunk. Pusey noted that Belshazzar was also drunk when conquered (Dan. 5), and so was Benhadad (1 Ki. 20:16).
3cf. Calvin: “[H]e derides here that haughtiness by which the Assyrians were swollen...”
4שׁכר, a synonym to Nahum’s word סבא.
5רפה, a synonym to Nahum’s word יבש.
6שׁית ...שׁמיר, synonyms to Nahum’s word סיר.
7שׂרף, a synonym for Nahum’s word אכל.
8Calvin thought the singular should be supplied collectively to the whole Assyrian army, but it can just as well be of their leader.
9Pusey: “There was a more ‘evil counselor’ behind whose agent was Sennacherib. He, as he is the author of all murders and strife, so has he a special hatred for the church, whether before or since Christ’s Coming.”
10It is also a challenge to discern the best way to translate the three comparative words “although/likewise/thus/so” as well as the one conjunction which occurs four times in this Hebrew verse. English versions of this verse translate that one Hebrew conjunction with a wide variety of English words, including “and,” “yet,” “even,” “nevertheless,” “when,” “thus,” and “though.” How one translates that Hebrew conjunction can change the meaning of the verse. In many versions, the translators gave up and just dropped a word out.
11Calvin interpreted “sheared” as “destroyed” and referred all three descriptors to Assyria, and with this Newcome, Owen, Henry, Pusey, Barrett, and even Keil agreed.
12I realize it could be counter-argued that the first two words are adjectives and the third is a verb, and therefore the first two could refer to the Assyrians and the third to the Jews, but I am noting the parallel conjunctions in וְכֵן רַבִּים וְכֵן נָגֹזּוּ (“even so there will be many, even so they will be shorn”) which many translations ignore.
13Lehrman commented that Rashi and Abarbanel considered the singular subject of “pass” to be the people of Assyria, and Kimchi considered it to be the strength/power of Assyria. Henry oddly considered it to be the “destroying angel.” All seem to me to be a linguistic stretch.
14Calvin missed the shift to singular, but his English translator, Owen, caught it and agreed with my interpretation. Keil didn’t miss it, but lumped it in with the army’s destruction anyway.
15Lehrman indicated that Rashi supported this explanation (and among the Christian commentators, Barrett seemed to hold this), but Lehrman preferred Rashi’s alternate explanation that it meant that this affliction would be so effective at achieving His purpose of refining His people that God would not need to bring further affliction to finish achieving that particular purpose. Calvin agreed with the latter, as did Henry, who cited Isa. 10:12 in support.
16עול, a synonym for Nahum’s more-specialized term מוט.
17עבד, a synonym for Nahum’s ענה.
18Rashi, Kara, and Ibn Ezra agreed on this, as did most of the Christian commentators after them.
19Keil was almost alone among the commentators in disputing Sennacherib as the fulfillment of this prophecy, although he agreed at least that this was speaking of Assyria.
20Lehrman, Calvin, Henry in loc. (although Henry suggested “it may be taken more generally to denote the utter ruin of Assyria” instead of only describing Sennacherib.)
21Source material from https://www.worldhistory.org/sennacherib/ accessed 15 Feb 2025.
22The identical wording in Hebrew of Nahum 1:15 and Isaiah 52:7 is highlighted: “How fitting are the feet of an announcer upon the mountains, causing peace to be heard, announcing goodness, causing salvation to be heard, saying to Zion, your God reigns!” (NAW)
23It is surprising to me not to find a single commentator who sought to interpret this phrase by its use elsewhere in Scripture. Calvin explained it that the messengers “ascended to the tops of mountains that their voice might be more extensively heard” (a position with which Keil surprisingly agreed), yet that would obscure them behind trees and put them away from population (Barrett’s rebuttal was that the messenger was on the mountain in order to see the outcome of the battle better), and furthermore, the roads in those days followed valleys, not mountain ridges. (Calvin’s rebuttal to that was: “all the roads had been before closed up.”) Pusey oddly seemed to interpret it mystically: “above all the height of this world.”
24Deut. 12:2, Isa. 65:7, Ezek. 18:15
25The Greek word in the LXX for “feast” is also used in the GNT to refer to Passover in Matt. 26:5; 27:15; Mk. 14:2; 15:6; Lk. 2:41-42; 22:1; Jn. 2:23; 4:45; 6:4; 11:56; 12:12, 20; 13:1, 29. (In John 5:1, it may refer to Hanukkah.)
AMy
original chart includes the following copyrighted English versions:
NASB, NIV, ESV, Bauscher’s version of the Peshitta, and Cathcart’s
version of the Targums, but I remove these columns from my public,
non-copyrighted edition of this chart so as not to infringe on their
copyrights. NAW is my translation. When a translation adds words not
in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use
of italics or greyed-out text, I put the added words in [square
brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different
from all the other translations, I underline it. When a
version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs
too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far
from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout.
And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I
insert an X. I also place an X at the end of a word if the original
word is plural but the English translation is singular. I
occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between
the various editions and versions when there are more than two
different translations of a given word. The only known Dead Sea
Scrolls containing Nahum 1 are 4Q82 (containing parts of verses 7-9
and dated between 30-1 BC), The Nahal Hever Greek scroll
(containing parts vs. 13-14 and dated around 25BC), and the Wadi
Muraba’at Scroll, containing parts of verses 1-15 and dated around
135 AD. Where the DSS or NH are legible and in agreement with the
traditional text, the MT or LXX is colored purple.
Where the DSS supports the LXX/Vulgate/Peshitta with omissions or
text not in the MT, I have highlighted
with yellow the LXX
and its translation into English, and where I have accepted that
into my NAW translation, I have marked it with /forward and backward
slashes\.
BDouay Old Testament first published by the English College at Douay, A.D. 1609, Revised and Diligently Compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner, Published in 1582, 1609, 1752. As published on E-Sword.
C“Septuagint” Greek Old Testament, edited by Alfred Rahlfs. Published in 1935. As published on E-Sword.
DEnglish translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton, 1851, “based upon the text of the Vaticanus” but not identical to the Vaticanus. As published electronically by E-Sword.
E1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain. As published electronically by E-Sword.
FFrom
the Wiki Hebrew Bible
https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9B%D7%94_%D7%90/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA.
DSS text comes from https://downloads.thewaytoyahuweh.com
GThis translation is based on the Hebrew root being נקם (“take vengeance”) with the first letter disappearing (as it is want to do). The Latin and Aramaic and English versions recognized the root as קום (“rise up”), as did the 2nd Century Greek translators Symmachus (ανθυποστξσονται) and Theodotian (αναστησεται).
H151
out of 156 times that this prepositional phrase occurs in the HOT it
means “to the LORD.” This is one of the 5 times it means
“against the LORD” (the other 4 being Isa. 3:8 & 32:6
and Jeremiah 35:16 & 50:29). Keil’s objection that it can
never mean “against the LORD” seems mistaken.
There are
three other places in the HOT where the same words for “plot
against” occur: Jer. 49:20 “Therefore hear the counsel of
the LORD that He has taken against Edom, And His purposes that He
has proposed against the inhabitants of Teman…” Jer.
50:45 “Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD that He has
taken against Babylon, And His purposes that He has proposed
against the land of the Chaldeans…” (NKJV) and Hosea 7:15
“… yet against me [the LORD] they plot what is
evil.” (NAW)
ISymmachus rendered ‘ομοις στοιβη συμπεπλεγμενη (“like braided straw”).
JSym. rendered ‘ουτως και το συμποσιον αυτων συμπινοντων (“and like their drinking-buddies drinking together”)
KThis word is hard to translate. It usually means “until,” which is how the LXX translated it, but the Vulgate, Geneva, NASB, AJV, and ESV (as well as Owen and Keil, among the commentators) rendered it with the unusual meaning of a comparative (“like/as”). The more-unique versions are likewise unusual translations of this word: KJV (“when/while”), NIV (“among”), and NET (“certainly”). And some, like the NLT didn’t bother to translate it at all. I would point out that there is a homonym in Hebrew which means “always/forever/for a long time.”
LThe only other places this word occurs in the HOT are Eccl. 7:6; Isa. 34:13; Hos. 2:8 (where it is translated “thorns”); and Amos 4:2 (where it is translated “fish hooks”). Also, this is the first of four words in a row in Hebrew starting with the “s” sound, so there seems to be an intentional alliteration here.
MThe only other place this word occurs in the HOT is Job 8:17, describing roots that “wrap/entwine.”
NThis noun is followed by its verb form in the next word. The noun only occurs in the HOT here and Isa. 1:22; Hos. 4:18, where it is usually translated “drink” as in “strong drink.” The ensuing verb form occurs in Deut. 21:20; Prov. 23:20-21; Isa. 56:12; and Ezek. 23:42.
Ocf. Aquilla: αποστασιαν (“revolt”).
PSee same word in v.15.
QThe LXX’s confused translation is due to the fact that the Hebrew word for “humble/afflict” could also be translated “answer,” but no other version in history (that I’m aware of) has done so.
RThe
reading of the LXX and Peshitta could be obtained by putting the
spaces in different places in the Hebrew:
אִם
שְׁלֵמִים = “although full/peaceful,” but א
משל מים = “? ruler
of water.” The only other time this word “peace” is spelled
exactly the same (that is, as a masculine plural adjective) is
Genesis 34:21, where the people of Shechem were told that Jacob’s
family was “at peace” with them. However, the singular form of
this same word does occur three verses later in Nah. 1:15
“proclaiming peace.”
SOf the 15 times this verb occurs in the HOT, 80% refer to sheep-shearing and 20% refer to human hair-cutting.
TThe only other places this word occurs are Num. 4:10-12 and 13:23, referring to poles used by multiple men to carry unwieldy objects. Commentators seem to think that this instance in Nahum must refer to part of a yoke by which a beast of burden is attached to a cart.
UThis word also occurs in Job 39:5, Ps. 2:3 & 107:14, and Jer. 2:20, 5:5, 27:2, & 30:8. It denotes “chains/bonds/restraints/shackles/halters,” and is figurative in every instance except the one where Jeremiah is told to wear them literally, but even then it was as a symbol.
V2nd Century Greek translators corrected to ητιμωθης (“dishonorable”). “E” rendered ‘υβρισθης (“be despised”).
WThe idea of swiftness which the LXX and Peshitta got from this word is not its intrinsic meaning. The quickness is an extension of the more basic meaning of unimportance and disdain, which results in quick, cursory treatment of whatever is deemed abhorrent or unimportant.
XQere: לַעֲבָר – this is just a shorter spelling of the same word. Both are Qal Infinitive.
YThe Aramaic versions interpreted it the same way the MT does as a substantive adjective with a pronomial suffix (“all of it/them” - technically the object is singular, but could refer to a plurality). Vulgate and English versions interpreted it instead as an adverb (“completely”) - which is the Westminster morphology choice, and the LXX interpreted it as the verb “it finished” (jumping off the noun “an end” back in v.9). The unpointed Hebrew text could support any of these interpretations.