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And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.
Nahum 3:6 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB I will throw abominable filth on you, and make you vile, and will set you a spectacle.
  • BSB I will pelt you with filth and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you.
  • NKJV I will cast abominable filth upon you, Make you vile, And make you a spectacle.
  • NASB “I will throw filth on you And declare you worthless, And set you up as a spectacle.
  • NLT I will cover you with filth and show the world how vile you really are.

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

God promises to pelt Nineveh with filth, make her vile, and set her up as a public spectacle. Her judgment will be utterly degrading.

Overview

The throwing of filth dramatizes the contempt and disgrace that will replace Assyria's former glory. To be made a spectacle is to become an object lesson of God's righteous anger before the watching world. Such humiliation of the proud displays God's resolve to abase those who exalt themselves against him.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 16

  • Mal 2:9Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
  • Ps 38:5–7My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.
  • Job 9:31Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.
  • Jer 51:37And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.
  • Nah 1:14And the LORD hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.
  • Heb 10:33Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.
  • Job 30:8They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
  • 1 Cor 4:9For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.
  • Job 30:19He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
  • Zeph 2:15This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.
  • Mal 2:2If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.
  • Lam 3:16He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
  • Isa 14:16–19They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
  • 1 Kgs 9:7–8Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:
  • 1 Cor 4:13Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.
  • Jude 1:7Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Nahum videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Nahum 3:6YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on NahumMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 3:6 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.