Nahum

About Nahum

Nahum announces the coming fall of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, the cruel empire that had crushed Israel and terrorized Judah. About a century after Jonah's preaching led Nineveh to repent, the city had returned to violence, and Nahum declares that God will not let that evil stand forever. In the Bible's big story, Nahum shows that God rules over every nation, not just Israel, and that He is both a refuge for those who trust Him and a judge of the ruthless.

Written by

The book names Nahum of Elkosh as its author, a prophet we know almost nothing else about.

When

Nahum spoke sometime between the fall of Thebes in 663 BC, which he mentions, and the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC, which he predicts.

Themes

• God's judgment on cruelty
• God as a refuge in trouble
• The fall of proud empires
• Good news for the oppressed

Key verses

• Nahum 1:7The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
• Nahum 1:2-3God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. 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.
• Nahum 1:15Behold 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; he is utterly cut off.