O king of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your officers sleep. Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your shepherds slumber, king of Assyria. Your nobles lie down. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to gather them.
- KJV Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.
- NKJV Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; Your nobles rest in the dust. Your people are scattered on the mountains, And no one gathers them.
- NASB Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria; Your officers are lying down. Your people are scattered on the mountains And there is no one to gather them.
- NLT Your shepherds are asleep, O Assyrian king; your princes lie dead in the dust. Your people are scattered across the mountains with no one to gather them together.
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
The king of Assyria's shepherds and nobles slumber while the people are scattered with no one to gather them. The nation's leadership has utterly failed.
Overview
The 'shepherds' are the rulers responsible to guard and lead the people, here pictured as sleeping the sleep of death or negligence. With no leader to gather them, the people are scattered helplessly on the mountains. This collapse of failed leadership contrasts sharply with Christ, the good shepherd who gathers and keeps his flock.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 1 Kgs 22:17So Micaiah declared: “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These people have no master; let each one return home in peace.’”
- Ps 76:5–6The valiant lie plundered; they sleep their last sleep. No men of might could lift a hand.
- Isa 13:14Like a hunted gazelle, like a sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land.
- Jer 50:18Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria.
- Jer 51:57I will make her princes and wise men drunk, along with her governors, officials, and warriors. Then they will fall asleep forever and not wake up,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts.
- Exod 15:16and terror and dread will fall on them. By the power of Your arm they will be as still as a stone until Your people pass by, O LORD, until the people You have bought pass by.
- Ezek 32:22–23Assyria is there with her whole company; her graves are all around her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword.
- Ezek 31:3–18Look at Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches that shaded the forest. It towered on high; its top was among the clouds.
- Jer 51:39While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast, and I will make them drunk so that they may revel; then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up, declares the LORD.
- Isa 47:1“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate.
- Rev 6:15Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
- Isa 56:9–10Come, all you beasts of the field; eat greedily, all you beasts of the forest.
- Nah 2:5–6He summons his nobles; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 3:18 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.