All your fortresses are fig trees with the first ripe figs; when shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater!
Parallel translations
- WEB All your fortresses will be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.
- KJV All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.
- NKJV All your strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs: If they are shaken, They fall into the mouth of the eater.
- NASB All your fortifications are fig trees with ripe fruit— When shaken, they fall into the eater’s mouth.
- NLT All your fortresses will fall. They will be devoured like the ripe figs that fall into the mouths of those who shake the trees.
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
Nineveh's fortresses are likened to fig trees with ripe figs that fall at the slightest shake. Its defenses will collapse with ease.
Overview
The image of first-ripe figs dropping into a waiting mouth conveys how effortlessly the city's strongholds will fall to the attacker. What Assyria trusted for protection proves as fragile as fruit ready to drop. The picture deflates all confidence in human fortification against the judgment of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Rev 6:13and the stars of the sky fell to the earth like unripe figs dropping from a tree shaken by a great wind.
- Isa 28:4The fading flower of his beautiful splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest: Whoever sees it will take it in his hand and swallow it.
- Hab 1:10They scoff at kings and make rulers an object of scorn. They laugh at every fortress and build up siege ramps to seize it.
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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 3:12 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
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