Nineveh had been given mercy once. When Jonah preached, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown, the people believed God, put on sackcloth and turned from their evil way, and God spared the city.
While Jonah’s mission saw Nineveh repent and find mercy, the later prophecy of Nahum tells a different story. Nahum’s whole book is about Nineveh, and this time there is no call to repent and no reprieve. It is a sobering message about God’s patience, and a comforting one about where his people can run.
The Story of Nahum
The book opens with its subject: The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. A burden is a heavy message, and this one was carried for one city.
Nahum began with who God is. God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth, he said; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries. Then he added a line that echoes what Jonah had said about God, but with a different ending: The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. The LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt. Who can stand before his indignation? Nahum asked.
In the middle of that warning Nahum gave one of the most comforting verses in the prophets: The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. But for his enemies the warning stands: with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
Nahum also had good news for Judah, which had been afflicted. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more, the LORD said, For now will I break his yoke from off thee. 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.
In chapter 3 Nahum named the city’s sins: Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not. He described the noise of a whip and the rattling of the wheels and the jumping chariots of the attack to come. The LORD of hosts said, Behold, I am against thee. All who looked on would say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her?
Nahum told the city that its defenses would not save it. All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs, which fall into the mouth of the eater when shaken. Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds, he said, but there shall the fire devour thee. The book ends with words to the king of Assyria: Thy shepherds slumber… thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous. And the final question explains why the nations would clap their hands at the news: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
History records that Nineveh fell in approximately 612 BC. The Bible itself does not give that date; it gives the prophecy, and the reason.
Key Verses
“The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite” Nahum 1:1
“The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked” Nahum 1:3
“The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him” Nahum 1:7
“Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery” Nahum 3:1
“And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way” Jonah 3:10
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), a public-domain translation.
What the Story of Nahum Teaches Us
God’s patience is real, but it is not endless. In Jonah’s day God spared Nineveh when its people turned from their evil way. Nahum uses the same words Jonah used about God – slow to anger – but finishes the sentence differently: and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. Mercy offered once does not mean judgment will never come.
God is a refuge for those who trust him. Even in a book about judgment, Nahum stops to say, The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. For Judah, the fall of the bloody city was good tidings, the feet of him that publisheth peace.
No city or empire is too strong for God. Nineveh had strong holds, chariots, horsemen and merchants multiplied above the stars of heaven. Nahum said none of it would hold, because the LORD of hosts said, Behold, I am against thee. The final verse names the reason: upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Nahum in the Bible?
Nahum was a prophet called Nahum the Elkoshite, and his book is the burden of Nineveh (Nahum 1:1). The Bible tells us little else about him.
What is the book of Nahum about?
It is a prophecy against Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. It declares that the LORD will not at all acquit the wicked (Nahum 1:3), pronounces Woe to the bloody city! (Nahum 3:1), and says the king of Assyria’s people would be scattered upon the mountains (Nahum 3:18).
How are Jonah and Nahum connected?
Both books are about Nineveh. In Jonah, the people of Nineveh believed God and turned from their evil way, and God spared them (Jonah 3:5-10). In Nahum, the city is full of lies and robbery and the LORD says, Behold, I am against thee (Nahum 3:1-5).
What does Nahum 1:7 say?
The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him (Nahum 1:7).
When did Nineveh fall?
The Bible does not give a date. Historians date the fall of Nineveh to approximately 612 BC. Nahum prophesied that observers would say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? (Nahum 3:7).