Bible: Old Testament: English Standard Version

Nahum, a short text of just three chapters, predicts God’s wrath breaking against Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, with no hope for reprieve. The historical context of Nahum falls in the seventh century BCE, between the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel to the Assyrians and the destruction of Nineveh at the hands of the Babylonians (612 BCE). The identity of Nahum himself is uncertain, and he may have been a resident of the former northern kingdom, either still living there or in Assyrian exile. Nahum roots the coming destruction of Nineveh in the unchanging character of God, who, while “slow to anger,” is also unchangingly just: “[…] the LORD will by no means clear the guilty” (Nahum 1:3). In contrast to most of the other prophetic books, Nahum offers no space for anything other than the fiercest judgments, and the only positive aspect is a sense of satisfied vengeance on the part of the book’s Israelite audience, now seeing the decimation of their vicious foe. The book closes with these caustic words against the Assyrians: “There is no easing your hurt; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you.