Nahum 3:4
in Nahum 3because of the many harlotries of the harlot, the seductive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.
KJV
Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.
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This verse in Nahum 3
Commentary
9 notes on this verseBecause of the multitude of the whoredoms - Above, the Ninevites were represented under the emblem of a lion tearing all to pieces; here they are represented under the emblem of a beautiful harlot or public prostitute, enticing all men to her, inducing the nations to become idolatrous, and, by thus perverting them, rendering them also objects of the Divine wrath. Mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms - Using every means to excite to idolatry; and being, by menace or wiles, successful in all.
This site's exposition
the multitude of the whoredoms
The cause behind the carnage is given as harlotry and witchcraft, the standard prophetic idiom for a power that draws nations into ruinous alliance and then sells them, the bench reading it as political and commercial seduction rather than a charge against any people as such. Well favoured names the attraction itself, the empire's wealth and culture as the lure that drew smaller nations into vassalage they could not escape. The witchcrafts stand beside the whoredoms as two names for one thing, control gained by deception rather than by open strength.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Chapter 3, verses 1 and following) Woe to the city of blood, full of deceit and torn apart. The plunder will not cease. The sound of the whip, the sound of the rattling wheel, the galloping horses and the blazing chariots, the ascending knight and the flashing sword, the gleaming spear and the multitude of the slain, and the weighty destruction. There is no end to the corpses.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
These were her whoredoms, like those of Tyre, Isa. xxiii. These were her witchcrafts, with which she unaccountably gained dominion. And for this that God has a quarrel with her who, having made of one blood all nations of men, never designed one to be a nation of tyrants and another of slaves, and who claims it as his own prerogative to be universal Monarch.
Instances of like judgments for like sins, ver. 18-11. The overthrow of all wherein they trusted, ver. 12-19.
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The whoredom - The idolatries, which were multiplied by the many people that served the Assyrian idols. And whoredoms literally understood, did undoubtedly abound, where wealth, luxury, ease, and long continuance of these were to be found. Well-favoured - Glorious in their state and government, and in the splendour of their idols, temples, and sacrifices.
Because of the multitudes of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Because of the multitude of the whoredoms--This assigns the reason for Nineveh's destruction. of the well-favoured harlot--As Assyria was not a worshipper of the true God, "whoredoms" cannot mean, as in the case of Israel, apostasy to the worship of false gods; but, her harlot-like artifices whereby she allured neighboring states so as to subject them to herself.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot - There are “multitudes of slain” because of the “multitude of whoredoms” and love of the creature instead of the Creator. So to Babylon Isaiah saith, “they (loss of children and widowhood) shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, for the great abundance of thine enchantments” Isa 47:9. The actual use of “enchantments,” for which Babylon was so infamous, is not elsewhere attributed to the Assyrians. But neither is the word elsewhere used figuratively; nor is Assyria, in its intimate relation to Babylon, likely to have been free from the longing, universal in pagandom, to obtain knowledge as to the issue of events which would affect her. She is, by a rare idiom, entitled “mistress of enchantments,” having them at her command, as instruments of power. Mostly, idolatries and estrangement from God are spoken of as “whoredoms,” only in respect of those who, having been taken by God as His own, forsook Him for false gods. But Jezebel too, of whose offences Jehu speaks under the same two titles 2Ki 9:22, was a pagan. And such sins were but part of that larger all-comprehending sin, that man, being made by God for Himself, when he loves the creature instead of the Creator, divorces himself from God. Of this sin world empires, such as Nineveh, were the concentration. Their being was one vast idolatry of self and of “the god of this world.” All, art, fraud, deceit, protection of the weak against the strong 2Ki 16:7-9; 2Ch 28:20-21, promises of good Isa 36:16-17, were employed, together with open violence, to absorb all nations into it. The one end of all was to form one great idol-temple, of which the center and end was man, a rival worship to God, which should enslave all to itself and the things of this world. […]
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מֵרֹב֙ | mero | from [the] abundance of | H7230 → | |
| זְנוּנֵ֣י | zenunei | [the] prostitution<s> of | H2183 → | |
| זוֹנָ֔ה | zonah | a prostitute | H2181 → | |
| ט֥וֹבַת | toat | good of | H2896 → | |
| חֵ֖ן | chen | grace | H2580 → | |
| בַּעֲלַ֣ת | baalat | a mistress of | H1172 → | |
| כְּשָׁפִ֑ים | keshafim | sorceries | H3785 → | |
| הַמֹּכֶ֤רֶת | hamokheret | who sells | H4376 → | |
| גּוֹיִם֙ | goyim | nations | H1471 → | |
| בִּזְנוּנֶ֔יהָ | biznuneiha | by prostitution<s> her | H2183 → | |
| וּמִשְׁפָּח֖וֹת | umishpachot | and clans | H4940 → | |
| בִּכְשָׁפֶֽיהָ׃ | bikhshafeiha | by sorceries her | H3785 → |
מֵרֹב֙from [the] abundance of
meroH7230 →
זְנוּנֵ֣י[the] prostitution<s> of
zenuneiH2183 →
זוֹנָ֔הa prostitute
zonahH2181 →
ט֥וֹבַתgood of
toatH2896 →
חֵ֖ןgrace
chenH2580 →
בַּעֲלַ֣תa mistress of
baalatH1172 →
כְּשָׁפִ֑יםsorceries
keshafimH3785 →
הַמֹּכֶ֤רֶתwho sells
hamokheretH4376 →
גּוֹיִם֙nations
goyimH1471 →
בִּזְנוּנֶ֔יהָby prostitution<s> her
biznuneihaH2183 →
וּמִשְׁפָּח֖וֹתand clans
umishpachotH4940 →
בִּכְשָׁפֶֽיהָ׃by sorceries her
bikhshafeihaH3785 →
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 18:23The light of a lamp will never shine in you again, and the voices of a bride and bridegroom will never call out in you again. For your merchants were the great ones of…
it leads to
- Revelation 22:15
But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Revelation 18:3
All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance…
- Isaiah 23:8
Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are renowned on the earth?
- Jeremiah 7:34
I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bride and bridegroom, for the land will become a wasteland.”
- Revelation 18:9
Then the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail at the sight of the smoke rising from the fire that consumes her.
- Revelation 22:15
Through
Isaiah 47:9These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children, and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the…
it leads to
- 1 Thessalonians 5:3
While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
- Psalms 73:19
How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!
- Isaiah 47:12–13
So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror!
- 1 Thessalonians 5:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About Nahum
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
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); 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 Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.