Nahum 3:11

Nah 3:11 Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.

Ver. 11. Thou also shalt be drunken] sc. with the cup of the wine of God’s wrath; Jer 25:27 thou shalt "drink, and be drunken, and spue and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you." This is that κοινος μεθη, dry drunkenness of them that are "drunk, but not with wine," Isa 51:21; of them that remember their affliction and their misery, the wormwood and the gall, Lam 3:19. If the saints sip sometimes of the top of God’s cap, the wicked shall drink deep of it; yea, though it be eternity to the bottom.

Thou shalt be hid] Or, thou shalt lurk, either for fear of the enemy (who wast once above fear, and thine enemies below hope), or for shame of thine undone condition. See Rev 6:16 Luk 23:30 Hos 10:8. Or, thou shalt vanish, and be brought to nothing; as if there never had been any such. Confer Oba 1:16. Nineveh nothing else now, saith one who had been there, but a sepulchre of herself, a little town of small trade, where the patriarch of the Nestorians keeps his seat at the devotion of the Turk.

Thou shalt also seek strength because of the enemy] Or, from the enemy; beg help of them, to whom thou wouldest once have scorned to be beholden; or of them against whom thou hast professed and practised open hostility.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Nah 3:11-13. Thou also shalt be drunken — Thou shalt drink deep of the bitter cup of God’s displeasure. Thou shalt be hid, &c. — Thou shalt not dare to appear in the open field. Thou shalt seek strength because of the enemy — Thou shalt retire into thy strong holds, or fortified places, for fear of the enemy. All thy strong holds shall be like fig-trees — As figs when quite ripe drop off from the trees by the least shaking, so shall thy strong holds fall into the enemies’ hands upon the first assault. The gates of thy land shall be set wide open, &c. — The several passages, by which the enemy may invade thee, shall be open to them, either through fear or treachery, or shall be easily forced. The fire shall devour thy bars — With which the gates were shut and strengthened.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The same, or rather a worse fate than No-amon suffered, is now awaiting Nineveh. Nah 3:11. "Thou also wilt be drunken, shalt be hidden; thou also wilt seek for a refuge from the enemy. Nah 3:12. All thy citadels are fig-trees with early figs; if they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. Nah 3:13. Behold thy people, women in the midst of thee; the gates of thy land are thrown quite open to thine enemies; fire consumes thy bolts." גּם־אתּ corresponds to גּם־היא in Nah 3:10 : as she, so also thou. "The fate of No-amon is a prophecy of thine own" (Hitzig). תּשׁכּרי, thou wilt be drunken, viz., from the goblet of divine wrath, as at Oba 1:16. תּהי נעלמה might mean, "thou wilt be hiding thyself;" but although this might suit what follows, it does not agree with תּשׁכּרי , since an intoxicated person is not in the habit of hiding himself. Moreover, נעלם always means "hidden," occultus; so that Calvin's interpretation is the correct one: "Thou wilt vanish away as if thou hadst never been; the Hebrews frequently using the expression being hidden for being reduced to nothing." This is favoured by a comparison both with Nah 1:8 and Nah 2:12, and also with the parallel passage in Oba 1:16, "They will drink, and be as if they had not been." This is carried out still further in what follows: "Thou wilt seek refuge from the enemy," i.e., in this connection, seek it in vain, or without finding it; not, "Thou wilt surely demand salvation from the enemy by surrender" (Strauss), for מאויב does not belong to תּבקשׁי, but to מעוז (cf. Isa 25:4). All the fortifications of Nineveh are like fig-trees with early figs (עם in the sense of subordination, as in Sol 4:13), which fall into the mouth of the eater when the trees are shaken. The tertium compar. is the facility with which the castles will be taken and destroyed by the enemy assaulting them (cf. Isa 28:4). We must not extend the comparison so far, however, as to take the figs as representing cowardly warriors, as Hitzig does. Even in Nah 3:13, where the people are compared to women, the point of comparison is not the cowardliness of the warriors, but the weakness and inability to offer any successful resistance into which the nation of the Assyrians, which was at other times so warlike, would be reduced through the force of the divine judgment inflicted upon Nineveh (compare Isa 19:16; Jer 50:37; Jer 51:30). לאיביך belongs to what follows, and is placed first, and pointed with zakeph-katon for the sake of emphasis. The gates of the land are the approaches to it, the passes leading into it, which were no doubt provided with castles. Tuch (p. 35) refers to the mountains on the north, which Pliny calls impassable. The bolts of these gates are the castles, through which the approaches were closed. Jeremiah transfers to Babel what is here said of Nineveh (see Jer 51:30).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

drunken--made to drink of the cup of Jehovah's wrath (Isa 51:17, Isa 51:21; Jer 25:15).

hid--covered out of sight: a prediction remarkably verified in the state in which the ruins of Nineveh have been found [G. V. SMITH]. But as "hid" precedes "seek strength," &c., it rather refers to Nineveh's state when attacked by her foe: "Thou who now so vauntest thyself, shalt be compelled to seek a hiding-place from the foe" [CALVIN]; or, shalt be neglected and slighted by all [MAURER].

seek strength because of the enemy--Thou too, like Thebes (Nah 3:9), shalt have recourse to other nations for help against thy Medo-Babylonian enemy.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Nahum, after having adduced the example of Alexandria, now shows that nothing would be able to resist God, so that he should not deal with Nineveh in the same manner; and he declares that this would be the case, Thou also, he says, shalt be inebriated. Well known is this metaphor, which often occurs in Scripture: for the Prophets are wont frequently to call punishment a cup, which God administers. But when God executes a heavy punishment, he is said to inebriate the wicked with his cup. The Prophet says now, that the chastisement of Nineveh would make her like a drunken man, who, being overcome with wine, lies down, as it were, stupefied. Hence by this metaphor he intended to set forth a most severe punishment: Thou then shalt be also inebriated The particle גם, gam, is here emphatical; it was introduced, that the Ninevites might know, that they could not possibly escape the punishment which they deserved; for God continues ever like himself. Thou then shalt be also inebriated This would not be consistent, were not God the judge of the world to the end. There is then a common reason for this proceeding; hence it necessarily follows, — since God punished the Alexandrians, the Assyrians cannot escape his hand, and be exempt from punishment.

He adds, Thou shalt be hidden Some refer this to shame, as though the Prophet had said, — “Thou indeed showest thyself now to be very proud, but calamity will force thee to seek hiding-places, in which to conceal thyself.” But I am more inclined to this meaning, — that Nineveh would vanish away, as though it never had been; for to be hidden is often taken in Hebrew in the sense of being reduced to nothing.

He afterwards says, Thou shalt also seek strength, or supplies, from the enemy. The words מעוז מאויב, meouz meavib, may admit of two meanings, — either that she will humbly solicit her enemies, — or that on account of her enemies she will flee to some foreign aid; for the preposition מ, mem, may be taken in both senses. If we adopt the first meaning, then I think that the Prophet speaks not of the Babylonians, but of the other nations who had been before harassed by the Assyrians. Thou shalt now then humbly pray for the aid of those who have been hitherto thine enemies, — not because they had provoked thee, but because thou hast as an enemy treated them. Now it is an extreme misery, when we are constrained to seek the help of those by whom we are hated, and hated, because we have by wrongs provoked them. But the other sense is more approved, for it is less strained: Thou shalt also seek aids on account of the enemy; that is, as strength to resist will fail thee, thou wilt seek assistance from thy neighbors. It follows —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(11, 12) Thou also shalt be drunken.—Nineveh also shall be drunken with the cup of God’s wrath (see Hab_2:16), yea, hid from recollection, so that men shall ask, “Where is Nineveh?” (Comp. Nah_2:11.) She, too, shall vainly seek a fortress (Authorised Version, “strength”) to give her shelter, all her own strongholds having fallen as easily as the ripe fruit from the fig-tree.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. shalt be drunken] Drunkenness is a figure for the stupefaction caused by calamity. Isa_51:17-23, “Awake Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury, thou hast drunken of the bowl of the cup of staggering … Hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine.” Similarly Hab_2:15-16; Jer_25:15 seq. Comp. Jer_25:17-18; Jer_25:27; Eze_23:33; Oba_1:16.

thou shalt be hid] thou shalt faint, or, swoon, lit. be shrouded (in darkness), a usual oriental figure—“a covering came over him,” i.e. he swooned. Comp. the more usual word, Isa_51:20; Amo_8:13; Lam_2:19.

shalt seek strength] seek a place of refuge because of, or, from the enemy.

The destruction of Thebes here alluded to was effected by Assurbanipal about 664–662. The Egyptian king of the day was Urdamanî, who had succeeded Tirhaka. Details are given in the Inscriptions; see Schrader, ii. pp. 149–152; Winckler, Altorient. Untersuch. I. p. 105 (Essay on “The Sargonides and Egypt”). For the bearing of the reference on date of the prophecy, see Introd.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou also shalt be drunken,.... This is said to Nineveh, whose turn would be next to drink of the cup of the wrath of God, and be inebriated with it, so that they should not know where they were, or what they did; and be as unable to guide and help themselves as a drunken man. So the Targum,

"thou also shalt be like to a drunken man;''

this was literally true of Nineveh when taken; see Nah 1:10,

thou shalt be hid; or, "thou shall be", as if thou wast not; as Nineveh is at this day, "hid" from the sight of men, not to be seen any more. So the Targum,

"thou shall be swallowed up or destroyed.''

The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it "despised"; or the meaning is, she should "hide herself" (w); or be lurking about through shame, as drunken, or through fear of her enemies:

thou also shall seek strength because of the enemy; seek to others to help them against the enemy, not being able with their own strength to face them: or, seek strength "of the enemy" (x); beg their lives of him, and their bread; pray for quarter, and desire to be taken under his protection; to so low and mean a state and condition should Nineveh and its inhabitants be reduced, who had given laws to all about them, and had been a terror to them.

(w) "latitans", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "abscondes te", Vatablus; "eris abscondita", Burkius. (x) , Sept.; "ab hoste", Montanus, Calvin, Drusius, Grotius, Cocceius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Thou also - As thou hast done, so shall it be done unto thee. The cruelties on No, in the cycle of God’s judgments, draw on the like upon Nineveh who inflicted them. “Thou also shalt be drunken” with the same cup of God’s anger, entering within thee as wine doth, bereaving thee of reason and of counsel through the greatness of thy anguish, and bringing shame on thee , and a stupefaction like death. “Thou shalt be hid, a thing hidden” from the eyes of men, “as though thou hadst never been.” Nahum had foretold her complete desolation: he had asked, where is she? Here he describes an abiding condition; strangely fulfilled, as perhaps never to that extent besides; her palaces, her monuments, her records of her glorious triumphs existed still in their place, but hidden out of sight, as in a tomb, under the hill-like mounds along the Tigris. “Thou also shalt seek strength, or a stronghold from the enemy,” out of thyself, since thine own shall be weakness. Yet in vain, since God, is not such to thee Nah 1:7. “They shall seek, but not find.” “For then shall it be too late to cry for mercy, when it is the time of justice.” “He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy” Jam 2:13.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Drunk, and be chastised by God, Ezechiel xxiii. 32. --- From, to escape.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Thou, O Nineveh,

shalt be drunken; not only taste, but drink deep, yea, be drunk with the bitter cup of God’s displeasure and thine enemies’ rage, Isa 29:9; Oba 1:16.

Thou shalt be hid; either hide thyself, or be so weakened and diminished, that thou shalt no more appear; or else be as contemptible, laid by in some obscure place; fear and shame shall cover thee.

Thou also, O Nineveh, as well as Alexandria,

shalt seek strength, shalt sue for and entreat assistance,

because of the enemy, or from the enemy; i.e. either thus, in thy distress thou shalt seek for strength from such as are really thine enemies, though they make a league with thee; or thus, thou shalt beg protection from thy enemy that hath captivated thee, and rely on the mercy of him against the rage of others.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Thou also shalt be drunken. Nahum makes the application: The fate of Thebes shall be thine, O Nineveh. Thou shalt drink to the full the cup of God"s wrath. (see note on Oba_1:16; and comp. Jer_25:15, Jer_25:17, Jer_25:27) The metaphor indicates the effect of some overwhelming calamity that makes men reel with terror or stupefies them with amazement. Thou shalt be hid; thou shalt be powerless, or reduced to nothing; Esh uperewramenh , "Thou shalt be despised" (Septuagint); Eris despecta (Vulgate). Nineveh, which was taken and destroyed between B.C. 626 and 608, was so effectually "hidden" that its very site wasdiscovered only in late years, and its monuments have only been partially disinterred after immense labour. Thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy; or, thou also shalt seek a stronghold from the enemy. As the Egyptians fled for refuge from one place to another (see note on ver. 10), so shall the Assyrians attempt in vain to escape the enemy. History records that they endeavoured to effect a retreat from Nineveh during the siege (see Introduction,

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou also - Thou shalt drink deep of the bitter cup of God's displeasure. Hid - Thou shalt hide thyself. O Nineveh, as well as Alexandria. Shalt seek - Shalt sue for, and intreat assistance.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

You, too—(Even) according to your greatness, [you] shall become drunk like her with the cup of weakness (Cf. Isa. 51:17), and you shall disappear.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.