Nahum

Nahum opens with a hymn to the LORD—a jealous, avenging God who is slow to anger yet great in power; mountains quake at His presence. Though He is a refuge for those who trust Him, He promises overwhelming flood, darkness, and utter end for Nineveh’s plotters.

The attacker advances against Nineveh: shields red, chariots flash like fire, river gates burst, palace melts. The city—once a lion’s den— is emptied and pillaged; charioteers flee, soldiers stumble, and the LORD declares, ‘I am against you; your prey will be taken away forever.’

Woe to the bloody city! Nahum catalogs Nineveh’s violence, sorcery, and countless corpses. The Assyrian capital will fall like drunken revelers, like figs ripe to drop. Fortresses crumble, fire consumes, locust-like merchants scatter. No healing for Nineveh’s wound— all who hear of her fall clap their hands at her deserved doom.