Nahum 3:17
in Nahum 3Your guards are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts that settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows where.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thy princes are as the locusts, and thy marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers, which encamp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
KJV
Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
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This verse in Nahum 3
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThy crowned men are as the locusts,.... Tributary kings, and hired officers, as some think, who might be distinguished by what they wore on their heads; or their own princes and nobles, who wore coronets or diadems; unless their religious persons are meant, their Nazarites and devotees, their priests; these were like locusts for their number, fear, and flight in time of danger, and for their spoil of the poor; and some locusts have been seen with little crowns on their heads, as those in Rev 9:7 "which had on their heads as it were crowns like gold".
This site's exposition
Thou hast multiplied thy merchants
on Nahum 3:16-17
Her merchants outnumber the stars, her wealth built on trade across the whole ancient world, and the cankerworm image returns to strip even that away, the insect that spoils and simply flies off with nothing left behind to show for it. Her crowned officials and captains are locusts and grasshoppers camping in the hedges through the cold, gone the moment the sun rises and warms them into flight, leaving no one able to say where they went. The bench reads both verses together as one picture, an empire's apparent abundance and its armed strength alike proving to have no more staying power than an insect swarm.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 13 onwards) Behold, your people, women in your midst: the gates of your land will be opened wide to your enemies: fire will devour your bars. Draw water for the siege: build your fortifications, go into the mud, and trample: force the brick. There the fire will consume you; you will perish by the sword, you will be devoured like the chigoe: gather therefore like the chigoe: multiply like the locust. You have made more deals than there are stars in the sky: the chigoe has spread out and flown away.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The judgment they are under is as a wound, and it is incurable; there is no relief for it, " no healing of thy bruise, no possibility that the wound, which is so grievous and painful to thee, should be so much as skinned over; thy case is desperate (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
Thy crowned - Thy confederate kings and princes. Captains - Commanders and officers are for number, like locusts and grasshoppers; but 'tis all for shew, not for help.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Thy crowned are as the locust, and thy captains as the great locusts - What he had said summarily under metaphor, the prophet expands in a likeness. “The crowned” are probably the subordinate princes, of whom Sennacherib said, “Are not my princes altogether kings?” Isa 10:
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The last syllable, sar means a "prince," and is found in Belshaz-zar, Nabopolas-sar, Nebuchadnez-zar. as the great grasshoppers--literally, "as the locust of locusts," that is, the largest locust.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Thy crowned are as the locusts - Thou hast numerous princes and numerous commanders. Which camp in the hedges in the cold day - The locusts are said to lie in shelter about the hedges of fertile spots when the weather is cold or during the night; but as soon as the sun shines out and is hot, they come out to their forage, or take to their wings.
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִנְּזָרַ֙יִךְ֙ | minezarayikh | courtiers your | H4502 → | |
| כָּֽאַרְבֶּ֔ה | kaarbeh | [are] like the locust | H697 → | |
| וְטַפְסְרַ֖יִךְ | vetafserayikh | and officials your | H2951 → | |
| כְּג֣וֹב | kegov | [are] like a locust of | H1462 → | |
| גֹּבָ֑י | goyai | locusts | H1462 → | |
| הַֽחוֹנִ֤ים | hachonim | which encamp | H2583 → | |
| בַּגְּדֵרוֹת֙ | bagederot | in the walls | H1448 → | |
| בְּי֣וֹם | beyom | on a day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| קָרָ֔ה | karah | coldness | H7135 → | |
| שֶׁ֤מֶשׁ | shemesh | [the] sun | H8121 → | |
| זָֽרְחָה֙ | zarechah | it rises | H2224 → | |
| וְנוֹדַ֔ד | venodad | and it flees | H5074 → | |
| וְלֹֽא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| נוֹדַ֥ע | noda' | it is known | H3045 → | |
| מְקוֹמ֖וֹ | mekomo | place its | H4725 → | |
| אַיָּֽם׃ | ʾaiyam | where [are]? they | H335 → |
מִנְּזָרַ֙יִךְ֙courtiers your
minezarayikhH4502 →
כָּֽאַרְבֶּ֔ה[are] like the locust
kaarbehH697 →
וְטַפְסְרַ֖יִךְand officials your
vetafserayikhH2951 →
כְּג֣וֹב[are] like a locust of
kegovH1462 →
גֹּבָ֑יlocusts
goyaiH1462 →
הַֽחוֹנִ֤יםwhich encamp
hachonimH2583 →
בַּגְּדֵרוֹת֙in the walls
bagederotH1448 →
בְּי֣וֹםon a day of
beyomH3117 →2304 times
קָרָ֔הcoldness
karahH7135 →
שֶׁ֤מֶשׁ[the] sun
shemeshH8121 →
זָֽרְחָה֙it rises
zarechahH2224 →
וְנוֹדַ֔דand it flees
venodadH5074 →
וְלֹֽא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
נוֹדַ֥עit is known
noda'H3045 →
מְקוֹמ֖וֹplace its
mekomoH4725 →
אַיָּֽם׃where [are]? they
ʾaiyamH335 →
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
Jeremiah 51:27“Raise a banner in the land! Blow the ram’s horn among the nations! Prepare the nations against her. Summon the kingdoms against her—Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a captain against her; bring up horses…
it leads to
- Genesis 10:3
The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
- 1 Chronicles 1:6
The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
- Genesis 8:4
On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
- Jeremiah 51:12
Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon; post the guard; station the watchmen; prepare the ambush. For the LORD has both devised and accomplished what He spoke against the people of Babylon.
- Jeremiah 25:14
For many nations and great kings will enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.’”
- Genesis 10:3
Through
Revelation 9:7And the locusts looked like horses prepared for battle, with something like crowns of gold on their heads, and faces like the faces of men.
it leads to
- Daniel 7:8
While I was contemplating the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like those of a…
- Joel 2:4–5
Their appearance is like that of horses, and they gallop like swift steeds.
- Daniel 7:4
The first beast was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted up from the ground and made to…
- Daniel 7:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
About Nahum
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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 Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.