Nahum 3:6

6 I will throw filth at you and 1treat you with contempt and make you 2a spectacle.

Nahum 3:6 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 3:6

And I will cast abominable filth upon thee
As dirt and dung, or any or everything that is abominable and filthy; and which is thrown at harlots publicly disgraced, and as used to be at persons when carted. The meaning is, that this city and its inhabitants should be stripped of everything that was great and glorious in them, and should be reduced to the utmost shame and ignominy: and make thee vile:
mean, abject, contemptible, the offscouring of all things; rejected and disesteemed of all; had in no manner of repute or account, but in the utmost abhorrence: and I will set thee as a gazingstock;
to be looked and laughed at: or, "for an example" F5; to others, that they may shun the evils and abominations Nineveh had been guilty of, or expect the same disgrace and punishment. Kimchi interprets it "as dung" F6; to be no more reckoned of than that, or to be made a dunghill of; and so many others interpret it; or, "for a looking glass" F7; that others may look into, and take warning, and avoid the sins that have brought on such calamities.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 (yawrk) (eiv paradeigma) , Sept.; "in exemplum", Drusius, Tarnovius; "sicut spectacalum", Burkius.
F6 "Tanquam stercus", Munster, Montanus, Vatablus, Calvin, Cocceius.
F7 "Ut speculum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Quistorpius.

Nahum 3:6 In-Context

4 And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms, who betrays nations with her whorings, and peoples with her charms.
5 Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame.
6 I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle.
7 And all who look at you will shrink from you and say, Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her? Where shall I seek comforters for you?
8 Are you better than Thebes that sat by the Nile, with water around her, her rampart a sea, and water her wall?

Cross References 2

  • 1. Malachi 2:9; [Nahum 1:14]
  • 2. Hebrews 10:33; [1 Corinthians 4:9]
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.