10 For while princes `are' perplexed, And with their drink are drunken, They have been consumed as stubble fully dried.
Their best one `is' as a brier, The upright one -- than a thorn-hedge, The day of thy watchmen -- Thy visitation -- hath come. Now is their perplexity.
For, lo, the day hath come, burning as a furnace, And all the proud, and every wicked doer, have been stubble, And burnt them hath the day that came, Said Jehovah of Hosts, That there is not left to them root or branch,
And Abigail cometh in unto Nabal, and lo, he hath a banquet in his house, like a banquet of the king, and the heart of Nabal `is' glad within him, and he `is' drunk unto excess, and she hath not declared to him anything, less or more, till the light of the morning.
And Absalom commandeth his young men, saying, `See, I pray thee, when the heart of Amnon `is' glad with wine, and I have said unto you, Smite Amnon, that ye have put him to death; fear not; is it not because I have commanded you? be strong, yea, become sons of valour.'
As the driving away of smoke Thou drivest away, As the melting of wax before fire, The wicked perish at the presence of God.
Therefore, as a tongue of fire devoureth stubble, And flaming hay falleth, Their root is as muck, And their flower as dust goeth up. Because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of Hosts, And the saying of the Holy One of Israel despised.
And the light of Israel hath been for a fire, And his Holy One for a flame, And it hath burned, and devoured his thorn And his brier in one day. And the honour of his forest, and his fruitful field, From soul even unto flesh He doth consume, And it hath been as the fainting of a standard-bearer. And the rest of the trees of his forest `are' few, And a youth doth write them.
Fury is not in Me; Who giveth Me a brier -- a thorn in battle? I step into it, I burn it at once.
And I have caused its princes to drink, And its wise men, its governors, And its prefects, and its mighty ones, And they have slept a sleep age-during, And they awake not -- an affirmation of the king, Jehovah of Hosts `is' His name.
for yourselves have known thoroughly that the day of the Lord as a thief in the night doth so come, for when they may say, Peace and surety, then sudden destruction doth stand by them, as the travail `doth' her who is with child, and they shall not escape;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Nahum 1
Commentary on Nahum 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Prophecy of Nahum
Chapter 1
In this chapter we have,
Nah 1:1
This title directs us to consider,
Nah 1:2-8
Nineveh knows not God, that God that contends with her, and therefore is here told what a God he is; and it is good for us all to mix faith with that which is here said concerning him, which speaks a great deal of terror to the wicked and comfort to good people; for this glorious description of the Sovereign of the world, like the pillar of cloud and fire, has a bright side towards Israel and a dark side towards the Egyptians. Let each take his portion from it; let sinners read it and tremble; let saints read it and triumph. The wrath of God is here revealed from heaven against his enemies, his favour and mercy are here assured to his faithful loyal subjects, and his almighty power in both, making his wrath very terrible and his favour very desirable.
Nah 1:9-15
These verses seem to point at the destruction of the army of the Assyrians under Sennacherib, which may well be reckoned a part of the burden of Nineveh, the head city of the Assyrian empire, and a pledge of the destruction of Nineveh itself about 100 years after; and this was an event which Isaiah, with whom probably this prophet was contemporary, spoke much of. Now observe here,