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Nahum 3:8

in Nahum 3

Are you better than Thebes, stationed by the Nile with water around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the water?

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Art thou better than No-amon, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about her; whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was of the sea?

KJV

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?

This verse in Nahum 3

Commentary

9 notes on this verse
Art thou better than populous No,.... Or No Amon, a city in Egypt so called, not because the kings of Egypt were nursed and brought up there, as Jarchi and Abarbinel; see Pro 8:30 but from Ham the son of Noah, whose land Egypt was; or from Jupiter Ammon, worshipped there. No Amon signifies the mansion or palace of Ham, or Hamon; the Egyptians, as Herodotus says (h), call Jupiter by the name of Ammon.

This site's exposition

Art thou better than populous No

on Nahum 3:8-10

No, populous No, is Thebes on the Nile, and the comparison is the chapter's historical anchor, since Nineveh's own armies under Ashurbanipal had sacked Thebes within living memory of Nahum's audience, a fall the prophet's hearers could verify rather than merely imagine. Her defenses were a river for a rampart and a sea for a wall, her allies Ethiopia, Egypt, Put and Lubim, strength that looked infinite and still failed, her children dashed and her great men bound and cast for by lot. The argument runs from the greater to the lesser precedent, if Thebes with such strength fell, Nineveh's own coming fall is no longer merely threatened but demonstrated.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Nahum · Written before 420.

proposed

(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 Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

No - It is supposed this was what we now called Alexandria. Art thou greater, stronger, and wiser? Yet all her power was broken, her riches spoiled, and her glory buried in ruins.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

She was fortified both by nature and art, was situate among the rivers. Nile, in several branches, not only watered her fields, but guarded her wall. Her rampart was the sea, the lake of Mareotis, an Egyptian sea, like the sea of Tiberias.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

12 ), so to Nineveh that great city, Go, see what I did to populous No. Note, It will help to keep us in a holy fear of the judgments of God to consider that we are not better than those that have fallen under those judgments before us. We deserve them as much, and are as little able to grapple with them.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Art thou better than populous No - No-Ammon, or Diospolis, in the Delta, on one branch of the Nile. This is supposed to be the city mentioned by Nahum; and which had been lately destroyed, probably by the Chaldeans. The waters round about it - Being situated in the Delta, it had the fork of two branches of the Nile to defend it by land; and its barrier or wall was the sea, the Mediterranean, into which these branches emptied themselves: so that this city, and the place it stood on, were wholly surrounded by the waters.
2 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

populous No--rather, as Hebrew, "No-ammon," the Egyptian name for Thebes in Upper Egypt; meaning the portion or possession of Ammon, the Egyptian Jupiter (whence the Greeks called the city Diospolis), who was especially worshipped there. The Egyptian inscriptions call the god Amon-re, that is, Amon the Sun; he is represented as a human figure with a ram's head, seated on a chair (Jer 46:25;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens

Art thou better - More populous or more powerful, “than the populous No?” rather than No-Ammon, so called from the idol Ammon, worshiped there. No-Ammon, (or, as it is deciphered in the Cuneiform Inscriptions, Nia), meaning probably “the portion of Ammon” , was the sacred name of the capital of Upper Egypt, which, under its common name, Thebes, was far-famed, even in the time of Homer, for its continually accruing wealth, its military power, its 20,000 chariots, its vast dimensions attested by its 100 gates . Existing earlier, as the capital of Upper Egypt, its grandeur began in the 18th dynasty, alter the expulsion of the Hyksos, or Semitic conquerors of Egypt. Its Pharaohs were conquerors, during the 18th to 20th dynasties, 1706-1110 b.c. - about six centuries. It was then the center of a world empire. Under a disguised name , its rulers were celebrated in Geek story also, for their worldwide conquests. The Greek statements have in some main points been verified by the decipherment of the hieroglyphics. The monuments relate their victories in far Asia, and mention Nineveh itself among the people who paid tribute to them. They warred and conquered from the Soudan to Mesopotamia. A monument of Tothmosis I (1066 b.c.) still exists at Kerman, between the 20th and 19th degrees latitude, boasting, in language like that of the Assyrian conquerors; “All lands are subdued, and bring their tributes for the first time to the gracious god” . “The frontier of Egypt,” they say , “extends Southward to the mountain of Apta (in Abyssinia) and Northward to the furthest dwellings of the Asiatics.” The hyperbolic statements are too undefined for history , but widely-conquering monarchs could alone have used them. […]

The words behind it

13 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • הֲתֵֽיטְבִי֙¿ have you been made good

    hateiteviH3190

  • מִנֹּ֣אmore than No

    mino'H4996

  • אָמ֔וֹןAmon

    ʾamonH528

  • הַיֹּֽשְׁבָה֙that was dwelling

    haiyoshevahH3427

  • בַּיְאֹרִ֔יםamong the canals

    bayorimH2975

  • מַ֖יִםwater

    mayimH4325581 times

  • סָבִ֣יב[was] all around

    savivH5439

  • לָ֑הּ<to> it

    lah

  • אֲשֶׁר־which

    ʾasher-H834

  • חֵ֣ילrampart

    cheilH2426

  • יָ֔ם[was the] sea

    yamH3220396 times

  • מִיָּ֖ם[was] from sea

    miyamH3220396 times

  • חוֹמָתָֽהּ׃wall its

    chomatahH2346

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

5 stops

Each 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

    Amos 6:2

    Cross over to Calneh and see; go from there to the great Hamath; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?

    it leads to

    • Genesis 10:10

      His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

    • 2 Kings 18:34

      Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?

    • 2 Chronicles 26:6

      Uzziah went out to wage war against the Philistines, and he tore down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. Then he built cities near Ashdod and among the Philistines.

    • Isaiah 10:9–11

      “Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?

    • 1 Samuel 17:4

      Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was six cubits and a span in height,

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies2

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); Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; 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.