Nahum 3:12
in Nahum 3All your fortresses are fig trees with the first ripe figs; when shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
All thy fortresses shall be like fig-trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.
KJV
All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.
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This verse in Nahum 3
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThy strong holds - The effects of the consternation into which the Ninevites were cast by the assault on their city are here pointed out by a very expressive metaphor; the first-ripe figs, when at full maturity, fell from the tree with the least shake; and so, at the first shake or consternation, all the fortresses of Nineveh were abandoned; and the king, in despair, burnt himself and household in his own palace.
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
Note, Strongholds, even the strongest, are no fence against the judgments of God, when they come with commission. The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and a high wall, but only in his own conceit, Prov. xviii.
All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
All thy strong-holds shall be like fig trees, with the first ripe figs - Hanging from them; eagerly sought after , to be consumed. Being ripe, they are ready to fall at once; “if they be shaken;” it needs but the tremulous motion, as when trees wave in the wind, “they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater,” not costing even the slight pains of picking them from the ground . So easy is their destruction on the part of God, though it cost more pains to the Babylonians. At the end of the world it shall be yet more fulfilled Rev 6:13, for then God will use no human instrument, but put forth only His own Almightiness; and all strong-holds of man’s pride, moral or spiritual, shall, of themselves, melt away.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
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
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כָּ֨ל־ | kal- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מִבְצָרַ֔יִךְ | mivtzarayikh | fortifications your | H4013 → | |
| תְּאֵנִ֖ים | teenim | [are] fig trees | H8384 → | |
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | |
| בִּכּוּרִ֑ים | bikurim | first-fruits | H1061 → | |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | |
| יִנּ֕וֹעוּ | yinou | they will be shaken | H5128 → | |
| וְנָפְל֖וּ | venafelu | and they will fall | H5307 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| פִּ֥י | pi | [the] mouth of | H6310 → | |
| אוֹכֵֽל׃ | ʾokhel | an eater | H398 → | 810 times |
כָּ֨ל־all
kal-H3605 →5413 times
מִבְצָרַ֔יִךְfortifications your
mivtzarayikhH4013 →
תְּאֵנִ֖ים[are] fig trees
teenimH8384 →
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →
בִּכּוּרִ֑יםfirst-fruits
bikurimH1061 →
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →
יִנּ֕וֹעוּthey will be shaken
yinouH5128 →
וְנָפְל֖וּand they will fall
venafeluH5307 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
פִּ֥י[the] mouth of
piH6310 →
אוֹכֵֽל׃an eater
ʾokhelH398 →810 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
Revelation 6:13and the stars of the sky fell to the earth like unripe figs dropping from a tree shaken by a great wind.
it leads to
- Isaiah 34:4
All the stars of heaven will be dissolved. The skies will be rolled up like a scroll, and all their stars will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like foliage from the fig…
- Matthew 24:29
Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will…
- Revelation 9:1
Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and it was given the key to the pit of the Abyss.
- Revelation 8:10–12
Then the third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star burning like a torch fell from heaven and landed on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
- Ezekiel 32:7
When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light.
- Isaiah 34:4
Through
Habakkuk 1:10They scoff at kings and make rulers an object of scorn. They laugh at every fortress and build up siege ramps to seize it.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 36:6
Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jehoiakim and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.
- 2 Chronicles 36:10
In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned Jehoiachin and brought him to Babylon, along with the articles of value from the house of the LORD. And he made Jehoiachin’s relative Zedekiah king over Judah and…
- 2 Chronicles 36:6
Through
Isaiah 28:4The fading flower of his beautiful splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest: Whoever sees it will take it in his hand…
it leads to
- Micah 7:1
Woe is me! For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave.
- Micah 7:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
About Nahum
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; 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.