English Standard Version
Nahum 3:13
13Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars.
Nahum 3:13 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.
- New International Version (NIV)Look at your troops— they are all weaklings. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has consumed the bars of your gates.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Surely, your people in your midst are women! The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies; Fire shall devour the bars of your gates.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Your troops will be as weak and helpless as women. The gates of your land will be opened wide to the enemy and set on fire and burned.
Context of Nahum 3:13
11You also will be drunken; you will go into hiding; you will seek a refuge from the enemy. 12All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs— if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater. Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars. 14Draw water for the siege; strengthen your forts; go into the clay; tread the mortar; take hold of the brick mold! 15There will the fire devour you; the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust; multiply like the grasshopper!
Read all of Nahum 3Nahum 3:13 word by word
הִנֵּ֨ה עַמֵּ֤ךְ נָשִׁים֙ בְּקִרְבֵּ֔ךְ לְאֹ֣יְבַ֔יִךְ פָּת֥וֹחַ נִפְתְּח֖וּ שַׁעֲרֵ֣י אַרְצֵ֑ךְ אָכְלָ֥ה אֵ֖שׁ בְּרִיחָֽיִך׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Behold, thy peopleעַם‛am · people: soldiersH5971
- in the midstקֶ֫רֶבqereb · entrails: amongH7130
- womenאִשָּׁה'ishshâh nâshîym · womanH802
- the gatesשַׁ֫עַרsha‛ar · gateH8179
- of thy landאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776
- shall be set wideפָּתַחpâthach · to openH6605
- unto thine enemiesאֹיֵב'ôyêb 'ôyêb · enemyH341
- the fireאֵשׁ'êsh · fireH784
- shall devourאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398
- thy barsבְּרִיחַberîyach · barH1280
Cross-references for Nahum 3:13
- Isaiah 19:16In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them.
- Jeremiah 50:37A sword against her horses and against her chariots, and against all the foreign troops in her midst, that they may become women! A sword against all her treasures, that they may be plundered!
- Jeremiah 51:30The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting; they remain in their strongholds; their strength has failed; they have become women; her dwellings are on fire; her bars are broken.
- Nahum 2:6The river gates are opened; the palace melts away;
- Psalms 107:16For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron.
- Isaiah 45:1Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed:
- Psalms 147:13For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you.
Commentaries on Nahum 3:13
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 13Thy people - are women - They lost all courage, and made no resistance. O vere Phrygiae, neque enim Phryges: "Verily, ye are Phrygian women, not Phrygian men." So said Numanus to the Trojans. Virg., Aen. ix.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 13Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women - Fierce, fearless, hard, iron men, such as their warriors still are portrayed by themselves on their monuments, they whom no toll wearied, no peril daunted, shall be, one and all, their whole “people, women.” So Jeremiah to Babylon, “they shall become, became, women” Jeremiah 50:37; Jeremiah 51:30. He sets it before the eyes. “Behold, thy people are women;” against nature they are such, not in tenderness…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
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1313. thy people--thy soldiers. women--unable to fight for thee (Is 19:16; Jr 50:37; 51:30). gates on thy land--the fortified passes or entrances to the region of Nineveh (compare Jr 15:7). Northeast of Nineveh there were hills affording a natural barrier against an invader; the guarded passes through these are probably "the gates of the land" meant. fire shall devour thy bars--the "bars" of the fortresses at the passes into Assyria. So in Assyrian remains…Read the comment
Topics related to Nahum 3:13
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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