Nahum 1

Nahum announces YHWH’s judgment against Nineveh and the release of Judah from its oppressor’s grip.

Nineveh faces a vision of judgment delivered through Nahum the Elkoshite. The prophet describes YHWH’s anger against his enemies and his power over seas, mountains, and the whole earth. Amid these scenes, he names YHWH as a refuge for those who trust him. The closing speeches announce an end to enemy plots and the breaking of Judah’s bonds. Judah is told to keep its feasts and fulfill its vows because its oppressor will be cut off.

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1A revelation about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

2The LORD is a jealous God and avenges. The LORD avenges and is full of wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath against his enemies.

3The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. The LORD has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

4He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel languish. The flower of Lebanon languishes.

5The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it.

6Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him.

7The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him.

8But with an overflowing flood, he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

9What do you plot against the LORD? He will make a full end. Affliction won’t rise up the second time.

10For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble.

11One has gone out of you who devises evil against the LORD, who counsels wickedness.

12The LORD says: “Though they are in full strength and likewise many, even so they will be cut down and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.

13Now I will break his yoke from off you, and will burst your bonds apart.”

14The LORD has commanded concerning you: “No more descendants will bear your name. Out of the house of your gods, I will cut off the engraved image and the molten image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.”

15Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, Judah! Perform your vows, for the wicked one will no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off.

World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.

Key verses

Nahum 1:7At the center of the judgment imagery, this verse names YHWH’s goodness and his care for those seeking refuge.

Nahum 1:2The repeated declaration of vengeance establishes that Nineveh faces YHWH himself as its adversary.

Nahum 1:5Mountains and the whole inhabited earth tremble before YHWH, placing Nineveh’s strength beneath his power.

Where this chapter reaches

Psalm shares Nahum’s language of God as refuge and its images of the earth trembling before his presence. Isaiah shares the picture of a messenger on the mountains announcing peace, as well as the promise that an oppressor’s yoke will be broken.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

How does the description of YHWH’s power shape your reading of his goodness in verse 7?

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What stands out to you about Judah being told to keep its feasts amid an announcement of judgment?

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Questions people ask about Nahum 1

What does it mean that God is jealous in Nahum 1?

In verse 2, jealousy describes YHWH’s fierce opposition to his adversaries and their evil. The surrounding verses connect it with vengeance, wrath, and the punishment of guilt. The chapter also says he is slow to anger and good to those who take refuge in him.

Does Nahum 1:9 promise that trouble will never happen twice?

The statement concerns YHWH’s announced end to Nineveh’s opposition. The closing verses describe Judah’s bonds being broken and its oppressor being cut off. Its scope is that judgment and release. It does not promise that every reader will be spared repeated suffering or that hardship can occur only once.

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Nahum · 3 chapters

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What the Bible says about anger →What the Bible says about fear →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).