Woe to the bloody city, completely full of lies and pillage; Her prey does not leave.
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;
- 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.
- 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 who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city!
- Hab 2:12Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!
- Ezek 24:6–9Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the bloody city, to the cauldron whose rust is therein, and whose rust is not gone out of it! take out of it piece after piece; No lot is fallen on it.
- Hos 4:2There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.
- Ezek 22:2–3“You, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations.
- Nah 2:12The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill, and his dens with prey.
- Isa 17:14At evening, behold, terror! Before the morning, they are no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us.
- Isa 42:24Who gave Jacob as plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Didn’t Yahweh, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, and they disobeyed his law.
- Isa 24:9They will not drink wine with a song. Strong drink will be bitter to those who drink 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.