Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.
Parallel translations
- WEB Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. The prey doesn’t depart.
- KJV Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;
- NKJV Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. Its victim never departs.
- NASB Woe to the bloody city, completely full of lies and pillage; Her prey does not leave.
- NLT What sorrow awaits Nineveh, the city of murder and lies! She is crammed with wealth and is never without victims.
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
Nahum pronounces woe on Nineveh, the bloody city full of lies and plunder. Its guilt is summarized as violence, deceit, and theft.
Overview
The 'woe' introduces a final round of indictment and judgment against the city. Nineveh is characterized by murder, falsehood, and unrelenting robbery, a catalog of the sins that provoke God's wrath. By naming these crimes plainly, Nahum vindicates the justice of the destruction he announces.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Zeph 3:1–3Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled!
- Hab 2:12Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by iniquity!
- Ezek 24:6–9Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the city of bloodshed, to the pot now rusted, whose rust will not come off! Empty it piece by piece; cast no lots for its contents.
- Hos 4:2Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.
- Ezek 22:2–3“As for you, son of man, will you judge her? Will you pass judgment on the city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her abominations
- Nah 2:12The lion mauled enough for its cubs and strangled prey for the lioness. It filled its dens with the kill, and its lairs with mauled prey.
- Isa 17:14In the evening, there is sudden terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who loot us and the lot of those who plunder us.
- Isa 42:24Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned? They were unwilling to walk in His ways, and they would not obey His law.
- Isa 24:9They no longer sing and drink wine; strong drink is bitter to those who consume it.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 3:1 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.