EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Nahum 3:16
16You welcomed traders into your city until there were more than all the stars in the sky. But they are like locusts. They take everything from the land and then they fly away.
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
14Take as much water as you can for the attack. Make your walls strong. Do repairs to your buildings. 15The fire will burn you. The sword will cut you and it will kill you like grasshoppers. Grow in number like the grasshoppers and locusts. You welcomed traders into your city until there were more than all the stars in the sky. But they are like locusts. They take everything from the land and then they fly away. 17Your army and officers are so many that they are like locusts. Locusts stay on the walls on a cold day. But when the sun comes out, they fly away. And then nobody knows where they go. 18King of Assyria, the people who keep your people safe are asleep. Also, your powerful men are lying down to rest. Your people have run away to the mountains with nobody to get them together.
Read all of Nahum 3Nahum 3:16 word by word
הִרְבֵּית֙ רֹֽכְלַ֔יִךְ מִכּוֹכְבֵ֖י הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם יֶ֥לֶק פָּשַׁ֖ט וַיָּעֹֽף׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Nahum 3:16
- Genesis 15:5The Lord took Abram outside. He said to Abram, ‘Look up at the sky. Count the stars. They are too many for you to count!’ Then God said, ‘That is how many descendants you will have.’
- Genesis 22:17Because you have done this, I will bless you. I will make your descendants become so many that people cannot count them. They will be as many as the stars that are in the sky. They will be as many as the pieces of sand on the shore by the sea. Your descendants will win against their enemies and their enemies' cities.
- Nehemiah 9:23You caused your people to have many descendants, as many as the stars in the sky. You brought them to the land that you had promised to their ancestors. You had told them to go and live in it.
- Jeremiah 33:22I promise that my servant David will always have many descendants. There will also be very many Levites to serve me as priests. You will not be able to count them. They will be more than the stars in the sky and more than the sand on the shore of the sea.” ’
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
In the dictionaries
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
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