Nahum 3:5
in Nahum 3“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face; and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
KJV
Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
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This verse in Nahum 3
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Behold I am against thee, saith the Lord of Hosts - Jerome: “I will not send an Angel, nor give thy destruction to others; I Myself will come to destroy thee.” Cyril: “She has not to do with man, or war with man: He who is angered with her is the Lord of hosts.
This site's exposition
Behold, I am against thee
on Nahum 3:5-7
The sentence already given at 2:13 returns here as the chapter's own hinge, behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, the Lord himself the party bringing the shame the empire spread on others back onto her. Discovering her skirts and showing her nakedness to the nations is the ancient penalty for the very harlotry just named, public exposure answering secret seduction. The result is total isolation, all that look on her flee, and the question who will bemoan her, whence shall I seek comforters for thee, is left standing unanswered until the book's own final verse answers it in full.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 5, 6.) Behold, I am coming to you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will reveal your shame before your face, and I will show your nakedness to the nations, and your disgrace to the kingdoms. And I will cast abominations upon you, and afflict you with insults, and make you an example.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Instances of like judgments for like sins, ver. 18-11. The overthrow of all wherein they trusted, ver. 12-19.
quarantine:anchor (2026-07-29) — cites-ver-18/12-anchored-1-7
Note, When proud sinners are humbled and brought down it is designed that others should take example by them not to lift up themselves in security and insolence when they prosper in the world. 8 Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-run:31w-of-65
Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
I will treat thee not as a matron, but as a harlot whose shame is exposed; her gaudy finery being lifted up off her (Isa 47:2, 3). So Nineveh shall be stripped of all her glory and defenses on which she prides herself.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
I will discover thy skirts upon thy face - It was an ancient, though not a laudable custom, to strip prostitutes naked, or throw their clothes over their heads, and expose them to public view, and public execration. This verse alludes to such a custom.
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הִנְנִ֣י | hini | here I | H2005 → | |
| אֵלַ֗יִךְ | ʾelayikh | [am] against you | H413 → | 5510 times |
| נְאֻם֙ | neum | [the] utterance of | H5002 → | |
| יְהוָ֣ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| צְבָא֔וֹת | tzevaot | of hosts | H6635 → | |
| וְגִלֵּיתִ֥י | vegileiti | and I will uncover | H1540 → | |
| שׁוּלַ֖יִךְ | shulayikh | skirts your | H7757 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| פָּנָ֑יִךְ | panayikh | face your | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| וְהַרְאֵיתִ֤י | vehareiti | and I will show | H7200 → | |
| גוֹיִם֙ | goyim | nations | H1471 → | |
| מַעְרֵ֔ךְ | ma'rekh | nakedness your | H4626 → | |
| וּמַמְלָכ֖וֹת | umamlakhot | and kingdoms | H4467 → | |
| קְלוֹנֵֽךְ׃ | kelonekh | shame your | H7036 → |
הִנְנִ֣יhere I
hiniH2005 →
אֵלַ֗יִךְ[am] against you
ʾelayikhH413 →5510 times
נְאֻם֙[the] utterance of
neumH5002 →
יְהוָ֣הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
צְבָא֔וֹתof hosts
tzevaotH6635 →
וְגִלֵּיתִ֥יand I will uncover
vegileitiH1540 →
שׁוּלַ֖יִךְskirts your
shulayikhH7757 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
פָּנָ֑יִךְface your
panayikhH6440 →2123 times
וְהַרְאֵיתִ֤יand I will show
vehareitiH7200 →
גוֹיִם֙nations
goyimH1471 →
מַעְרֵ֔ךְnakedness your
ma'rekhH4626 →
וּמַמְלָכ֖וֹתand kingdoms
umamlakhotH4467 →
קְלוֹנֵֽךְ׃shame your
kelonekhH7036 →
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 13:26So I will pull your skirts up over your face, that your shame may be seen.
it leads to
- Hosea 2:10
And then I will expose her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of My hands.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Lamentations 1:8
Jerusalem has sinned greatly; therefore she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hosea 2:10
Through
Ezekiel 16:37therefore I will surely gather all the lovers with whom you found pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose you…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 13:22
And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 13:22
Through
Jeremiah 13:22And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 16:10–11
When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is the sin that we have…
- Jeremiah 5:19
And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods…
- Jeremiah 16:10–11
Through
Nahum 2:13“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will send your chariots up in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the…
it leads to
- Psalms 46:9
He makes wars to cease throughout the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the shields in the fire.
- Jeremiah 21:13
Behold, I am against you who dwell above the valley, atop the rocky plateau—declares the LORD—you who say, “Who can come against us? Who can enter our dwellings?”
- 2 Kings 19:23
Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut…
- Psalms 46:9
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); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Nahum; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; 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.