Nahum 3:16

Nahum 3:16 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.
• New International Version (NIV)You have increased the number of your merchants till they are more numerous than the stars in the sky, but like locusts they strip the land and then fly away.
• English Standard Version (ESV)You increased your merchants more than the stars of the heavens. The locust spreads its wings and flies away.
• New King James Version (NKJV)You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of heaven. The locust plunders and flies away.

Context of Nahum 3:16

14Draw water for a [long, continued] siege! Strengthen your fortresses! Go down to the clay pits, trample the mortar! Prepare the brick kiln [to burn bricks for the rampart]! 15But there [in the very midst of these preparations] the fire will devour you; The sword will cut you down; It will devour you as the locust does. Multiply yourself like the creeping locusts; Multiply yourself like the swarming locusts. You have increased your traders more than the [visible] stars of heaven— The creeping locust strips and destroys and then flies away. 17Your guardsmen are like the swarming locusts. Your marshals are like the hordes of grasshoppers Settling in the stone walls on a cold day. When the sun rises, they fly away, And no one knows the place where they are. 18Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; Your nobles are lying down [in death]. Your people are scattered on the mountains And there is no one to gather them.

Nahum 3:16 word by word

הִרְבֵּית֙ רֹֽכְלַ֔יִךְ מִכּוֹכְבֵ֖י הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם יֶ֥לֶק פָּשַׁ֖ט וַיָּעֹֽף׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Thou hast multipliedרָבָהrâbâh · to multiplyH7235
• thy merchantsרָכַלrâkal · to tradeH7402
• above the starsכּוֹכָבkôkâb · starH3556
• of heavenשָׁמַיִםshâmayim shâmeh · heavenH8064
• the cankerwormיֶ֫לֶקyeleq · locustH3218
• spoilethפָּשַׁטpâshaţ · to stripH6584
• and flieth awayעוּף‛ûph · to flyH5774

Cross-references for Nahum 3:16

• Genesis 15:5And the Lord brought Abram outside [his tent into the night] and said, “Look now toward the heavens and count the stars—if you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “So [numerous] shall your descendants be.”
• Genesis 22:17indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies [by conquering them].
• Nehemiah 9:23You made their children as numerous as the stars of heaven, And You brought them into the land Which You told their fathers to enter and possess.
• Jeremiah 33:22As the host of [the stars of] heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.’ ”

Commentaries on Nahum 3:16

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16Thou hast multiplied thy merchants - Like Tyre, this city was a famous resort for merchants; but the multitudes which were there previously to the siege, like the locusts, took the alarm, and fled away.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven - Not numerous only but glorious in the eyes of the world, and, as thou deemest, safe and inaccessible; yet in an instant all is gone. The commerce of Nineveh was carried back to prehistoric times, since its rivers bound together the mountains of Armenia with the Persian gulf, and marked out the line, by which the distant members of the human family should supply each others‘ needs. “Semiramis”…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 8-19Verses 8-19 Strong-holds, even the strongest, are no defence against the judgments of God. They shall be unable to do any thing for themselves. The Chaldeans and Medes would devour the land like canker-worms. The Assyrians also would be eaten up by their own numerous hired troops, which seem to be meant by the word rendered "merchants." Those that have done evil to their neighbours, will find it come home to them. Nineveh, and many other cities, states…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16Assyrian merchants spread across the Near East like locusts, bringing great wealth to Nineveh. However, like locusts that eat and leave, the merchants took their goods and departed during Nineveh's difficult times, leaving the people in need.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. multiplied thy merchants--(Eze 27:23, 24). Nineveh, by large canals, had easy access to Babylon; and it was one of the great routes for the people of the west and northwest to that city; lying on the Tigris it had access to the sea. The Phoenicians carried its wares everywhere. Hence its merchandise is so much spoken of. the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away--that is, spoiled thy merchants. The "cankerworm," or licking locust, answers to the…Read the comment

Topics related to Nahum 3:16

• Cankerworm
• Commerce
• Merchant

In the dictionaries

• Cankerworm
• Depart
• Rattling
• Canker-Worm
• Captivity
• Locust
• Nahum; the Book of
• Nahum
• Nineveh

Commentaries on Nahum 3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings