Old Testament
Nahum
3 chapters
Start reading: Nahum 1About this book
Nahum is a short, vivid prophecy against Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. About a century earlier, Jonah's preaching had led the city to repent, but by Nahum's day Assyria had become a ruthless empire that crushed nations, deported peoples and terrorized Judah. The book opens with a hymn to the Lord who is slow to anger yet never leaves evil unanswered, a God who is both a refuge for those who trust him and a judge of the violent. Nahum then paints the fall of the city in rapid scenes of chariots, siege and flooding rivers, and closes with a taunt over a once-proud power that no one will mourn. For the oppressed, this was a message of comfort: tyranny does not have the last word. Readers have long wrestled with the book's intensity. Many see it as the other side of God's compassion, since mercy for the victims requires justice against their oppressors, while others stress that its message belongs to its original setting.
- Author
- The prophet Nahum of Elkosh, about whom little else is known.
- Date
- Most likely between about 663 BC, when Thebes fell, and 612 BC, when Nineveh fell.
- Audience
- The people of Judah living under Assyrian pressure, and any reader who longs for justice.
Themes
Outline
- 1:1–1:15The Lord, a refuge and a judge
- 2:1–2:13The attack on Nineveh
- 3:1–3:19Why Nineveh falls
Key verses
Chapters of Nahum
- 1Nahum 1Nahum announces a vision about Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, by first describing who God is: a jealous and avenging God, slow to anger but great in power, who does not leave the guilty unpunished.
- 2Nahum 2Nahum describes the attack on Nineveh in vivid, rapid-fire poetry: shields red, warriors in scarlet, chariots flashing, the river gates thrown open and the palace collapsing.
- 3Nahum 3Nahum pronounces woe on the city of blood, full of lies and plunder, with the crack of whips and thundering wheels, galloping horses and piles of dead bodies.