Nahum 3:11
in Nahum 3You too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou also shalt be drunken; thou shalt be hid; thou also shalt seek a stronghold because of the enemy.
KJV
Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.
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This verse in Nahum 3
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Thou also - As thou hast done, so shall it be done unto thee.
This site's exposition
Thou also shalt be drunken
on Nahum 3:11-13
The comparison lands directly on Nineveh, thou also shalt be drunken, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy, the same fate that met Thebes named as her own future in the same breath. Her strongholds are figured as fig trees loaded with the earliest, softest fruit, shaken once and falling straight into the eater's mouth, an image of defenses that look formidable and give way at the first real pressure. Thy people in the midst of thee are women reads on the bench as a charge of lost courage rather than a slight on women as such, matched by the gates thrown open and the bars burned before the enemy has to force them.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 8 and following) Are you better than Amon ((Vulgate: Alexandria of the nations)), who lived by the rivers? Her water was like a sea, her walls were like fortifications, Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and there was no end to her wealth; Africa and Libya were her allies. But she too was led into captivity, her young children were dashed to pieces at every street corner, her nobles were cast lots upon, and all her dignitaries were bound in chains.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Thou also shalt be drunken,.... This is said to Nineveh, whose turn would be next to drink of the cup of the wrath of God, and be inebriated with it, so that they should not know where they were, or what they did; and be as unable to guide and help themselves as a drunken man.
He shows them that all those things which they reposed a confidence in should fail them. Did the men of Nineveh trust to their own magnanimity and bravery? Their hearts should sink and fail them.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
She, too, went into exile —She, too, went into exile. Nevertheless, their greatness did not stand up before Nebuchadnezzar.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
All your fortresses —It shall be easy to conquer all your fortified cities and to ravage all that is in their midst, like the fig trees when they are with their first ripe fruits; when the tree is shaken, the first ripe fruits fall into the mouth of the eaters.
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
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| גַּם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| אַ֣תְּ | ʾat | you | H859 → | |
| תִּשְׁכְּרִ֔י | tishkeri | you will become drunk | H7937 → | |
| תְּהִ֖י | tehi | it will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| נַֽעֲלָמָ֑ה | naalamah | hidden | H5956 → | |
| גַּם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| אַ֛תְּ | ʾat | you | H859 → | |
| תְּבַקְשִׁ֥י | tevakshi | you will seek | H1245 → | |
| מָע֖וֹז | maoz | a refuge | H4581 → | |
| מֵאוֹיֵֽב׃ | meoyev | from [the] enemy | H341 → | 282 times |
גַּם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
אַ֣תְּyou
ʾatH859 →
תִּשְׁכְּרִ֔יyou will become drunk
tishkeriH7937 →
תְּהִ֖יit will be
tehiH1961 →3559 times
נַֽעֲלָמָ֑הhidden
naalamahH5956 →
גַּם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
אַ֛תְּyou
ʾatH859 →
תְּבַקְשִׁ֥יyou will seek
tevakshiH1245 →
מָע֖וֹזa refuge
maozH4581 →
מֵאוֹיֵֽב׃from [the] enemy
meoyevH341 →282 times
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
Luke 23:30At that time ‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’
it leads to
- Hosea 10:8
The high places of Aven will be destroyed—it is the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall…
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Revelation 6:16
And they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.
- Isaiah 2:19
Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
- Revelation 9:6
In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will escape them.
- Hosea 10:8
Through
Isaiah 2:10Go into the rocks and hide in the dust from the terror of the LORD and the splendor of His majesty.
it leads to
- Luke 23:30
At that time ‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Revelation 6:15–16
Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
- Luke 23:30
Through
Isaiah 49:26I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your…
it leads to
- Isaiah 9:20
They carve out what is on the right, but they are still hungry; they eat what is on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one devours the flesh of his own…
- Isaiah 41:14–20
Do not fear, O worm of Jacob, O few men of Israel. I will help you,” declares the LORD. “Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
- Isaiah 9:20
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
About Nahum
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Jerome, Commentary on Nahum; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.