Whatever you plot against the LORD, He will bring to an end. Affliction will not rise up a second time.
Parallel translations
- WEB What do you plot against Yahweh? He will make a full end. Affliction won’t rise up the second time.
- KJV What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.
- NKJV What do you conspire against the Lord? He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time.
- NASB ¶Whatever you devise against the Lord, He will make a complete end of it. Distress will not rise up twice.
- NLT Why are you scheming against the Lord? He will destroy you with one blow; he won’t need to strike twice!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God challenges Nineveh's scheming, declaring he will make a full end so that affliction will not rise a second time. Their plots against the Lord are futile.
Overview
Assyria had repeatedly afflicted God's people, but Nahum announces that this oppression will be ended once and for all. To plot against the Lord is to court certain destruction. The promise that 'affliction won't rise up the second time' foreshadows the final and complete victory God secures over all his enemies through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 21:11Though they intend You harm, the schemes they devise will not prevail.
- Prov 21:30There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.
- Ps 33:10The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples.
- 2 Cor 10:5We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
- Ps 2:1–4Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
- Nah 1:11From you, O Nineveh, comes forth a plotter of evil against the LORD, a counselor of wickedness.
- Ezek 38:10–11This is what the Lord GOD says: On that day, thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will devise an evil plan.
- Isa 8:9–10Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for battle, and be shattered; prepare for battle, and be shattered!
- Acts 4:25–28You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
- 1 Sam 3:12On that day I will carry out against Eli everything I have spoken about his family, from beginning to end.
- 1 Sam 26:8Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now, therefore, please let me thrust the spear through him into the ground with one stroke. I will not need to strike him twice!”
- 2 Sam 20:10Amasa was not on guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach and spilled out his intestines on the ground. And Joab did not need to strike him again, for Amasa was dead. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bichri.
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Christ at the center
The certain judgment on Nineveh and the comfort that 'the LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble' point to Christ, who is both the refuge of his people and the judge of their enemies.
How Nahum 1:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.