Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;
Parallel translations
- WEB Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. The prey doesn’t depart.
- BSB Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.
- 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 her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
- Hab 2:12Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!
- Ezek 24:6–9Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.
- Hos 4:2By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
- Ezek 22:2–3Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations.
- Nah 2:12The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.
- Isa 17:14And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.
- Isa 42:24Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
- Isa 24:9They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.