Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away.
Parallel translations
- WEB You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the skies. The grasshopper strips, and flees away.
- BSB You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips the land and flies away.
- NKJV You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of heaven. The locust plunders and flies away.
- NASB You have made your traders more numerous than the stars of heaven— The creeping locust sheds its skin and flies away.
- NLT Your merchants have multiplied until they outnumber the stars. But like a swarm of locusts, they strip the land and fly away.
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 multiplied its merchants beyond the stars, but like locusts they strip the land and fly away. Its commercial wealth offers no lasting security.
Overview
Assyria's vast trade network had enriched the city and seemed innumerable as the stars. Yet, like locusts, these merchants only plunder and then vanish when trouble comes. The image warns that wealth gathered by exploitation provides no faithful defense in the day of judgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Gen 22:17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
- Jer 33:22As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.
- Neh 9:23Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.
- Gen 15:5And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
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 3:16 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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