Look at your troops—they are like your women! The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire consumes their bars.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, your troops among you are women. The gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies. The fire has devoured your bars.
- KJV Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.
- NKJV Surely, your people in your midst are women! The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies; Fire shall devour the bars of your gates.
- NASB Behold, your people are women in your midst! The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies; Fire consumes your gate bars.
- NLT Your troops will be as weak and helpless as women. The gates of your land will be opened wide to the enemy and set on fire and burned.
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 troops are called as weak as women, its gates thrown open to enemies, and its bars consumed by fire. Its defenses are utterly compromised.
Overview
The comparison reflects the loss of military resolve and strength, using the ancient idiom for soldiers stripped of courage rather than commenting on the worth of women. Open gates and burned bars mean the city lies defenseless before its foes. The verse drives home that God has removed every protection from the doomed city.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Jer 51:30The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze, the bars of her gates are broken.
- Isa 19:16In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble with fear beneath the uplifted hand of the LORD of Hosts, when He brandishes it against them.
- Jer 50:37A sword is against her horses and chariots and against all the foreigners in her midst, and they will become like women. A sword is against her treasuries, and they will be plundered.
- Nah 2:6The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.
- Isa 45:1–2This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut:
- Ps 147:13For He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses the children within you.
- Ps 107:16For He has broken down the gates of bronze and cut through the bars of iron.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 3:13 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.