Nahum 1:11
in Nahum 1From you, O Nineveh, comes forth a plotter of evil against the LORD, a counselor of wickedness.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
There is one gone forth out of thee, that deviseth evil against Jehovah, that counselleth wickedness.
KJV
There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord, a wicked counsellor.
⋯
This verse in Nahum 1
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThere is one come out of thee,.... That is, out of Nineveh, as the Targum explains it; meaning Sennacherib, who had his royal seat and palace there; or Rabshakeh that was sent from hence by him with a railing and blaspheming letter to the king of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
This site's exposition
What do ye imagine against the Lord
on Nahum 1:9-11
The question is put directly to Nineveh's own plotters, and the answer follows in the same breath, he will make an utter end, no second affliction needed. Folded together as thorns and drunken as drunkards pictures a tangled, stupefied mass consumed as fast as dry stubble catches fire, an image of how quickly the apparent strength collapses. The one come out of thee, a wicked counsellor against the Lord, is read by much of the bench as Sennacherib or the Rabshakeh who mocked the Lord's power before the walls of Jerusalem in Hezekiah's day, though the verse names no one and the reading is held as a reading.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 11) For from you will come forth a wicked thought, thinking against the Lord, pondering rebellion. LXX: From you will come forth the worst thought, thinking opposing thoughts against the Lord. Truly from heretics will come forth a hostile thought against the Lord. Do you not see the wickedness and rebellion against God, to say that Valentinus, like a miscarriage of erring wisdom, was the final creation of the Creator? Is not the thought of Basilides impurity against God, and the detestable name ἄβραξας, which is attributed to the Lord of creation?
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Never was the glorious Majesty of heaven and earth more daringly, more blasphemously affronted than by Sennacherib at that time. He was a wicked counsellor who counselled them to despair of God's protection, and surrender themselves to the king of Assyria, and endeavour to put them out of conceit with Hezekiah's reformation ( Isa. xxxvi.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
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 him 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.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
There is one come out of thee - that is, Nineveh, “that imagineth” deviseth, , “evil, Lord, Sennacherib, against the the rod of God’s anger” Isa 10:5-7, yet who “meant not so,” as God meant. “And this was his counsel,” as is every counsel of Satan, “that they could not resist him, and so should withdraw themselves from the land of God, “into a land like their own” Isa 36:16-17, but whose joy and sweetness, its vines and its fig-trees, should not be from God, but from the Assyrian, i. e., from Satan.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
From thyself shall arise the source of thy own ruin. Thou shalt have only thyself to blame for it. imagineth evil--Sennacherib carried out the imaginations of his countrymen (Na 1:9) against the Lord and His people (2Ki 19:22, 23). a wicked counsellor--literally, "a counsellor of Belial." Belial means "without profit," worthless, and so bad (1Sa 25:25;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Imagineth evil against the Lord - Such were Pul, 2Ki 15:10, Tiglath-pileser, 2Ki 15:29; Shalmaneser, 2Ki 17:6; and Sennacherib, 2Ki 18:17; 2Ki 19:23. A wicked counsellor - Sennacherib and Rabshakeh.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
For, while the thorns are entangled —I.e., their destruction will come upon them suddenly, and they will not descend from their honor gradually, but while the thorns and the briers are [yet] entangled; i.e., strongly rooted.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִמֵּ֣ךְ | mimekh | from you | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| יָצָ֔א | yatza' | he has come out | H3318 → | |
| חֹשֵׁ֥ב | choshev | [one who] plots | H2803 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| רָעָ֑ה | raah | evil | H7451 → | |
| יֹעֵ֖ץ | yoetz | a counselor of | H3289 → | |
| בְּלִיָּֽעַל׃ ס | beliyaal | worthlessness | H1100 → |
מִמֵּ֣ךְfrom you
mimekhH4480 →1188 times
יָצָ֔אhe has come out
yatza'H3318 →
חֹשֵׁ֥ב[one who] plots
choshevH2803 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
רָעָ֑הevil
raahH7451 →
יֹעֵ֖ץa counselor of
yoetzH3289 →
בְּלִיָּֽעַל׃ סworthlessness
beliyaalH1100 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Nahum 1:9Whatever you plot against the LORD, He will bring to an end. Affliction will not rise up a second time.
it leads to
- Psalms 21:11
Though they intend You harm, the schemes they devise will not prevail.
- Proverbs 21:30
There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.
- Psalms 33:10
The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples.
- 2 Corinthians 10:5
We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
- Psalms 2:1–4
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
- Psalms 21:11
Through
2 Samuel 20:1Now a worthless man named Sheba son of Bichri, a Benjamite, happened to be there, and he blew the ram’s horn and shouted: “We have no share in David, no inheritance in Jesse’s son.…
it leads to
- 1 Kings 12:16
When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What portion do we have in David, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your…
- 1 Kings 12:16
Through
2 Chronicles 13:7Then worthless and wicked men gathered around him to resist Rehoboam son of Solomon when he was young, inexperienced, and unable to resist them.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 12:13
Thus King Rehoboam established himself in Jerusalem. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of…
- Judges 9:4
So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired some worthless and reckless men to follow him.
- 2 Chronicles 12:13
Where this verse is studied
About Nahum
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Nahum; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.