New Living Translation
Nahum 3:18
18Your shepherds are asleep, O Assyrian king; your princes lie dead in the dust. Your people are scattered across the mountains with no one to gather them together.
Nahum 3:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.
- New International Version (NIV)King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your nobles lie down to rest. Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; Your nobles rest in the dust. Your people are scattered on the mountains, And no one gathers them.
Context of Nahum 3:18
16Your merchants have multiplied until they outnumber the stars. But like a swarm of locusts, they strip the land and fly away. 17Your guards and officials are also like swarming locusts that crowd together in the hedges on a cold day. But like locusts that fly away when the sun comes up, all of them will fly away and disappear. Your shepherds are asleep, O Assyrian king; your princes lie dead in the dust. Your people are scattered across the mountains with no one to gather them together. 19There is no healing for your wound; your injury is fatal. All who hear of your destruction will clap their hands for joy. Where can anyone be found who has not suffered from your continual cruelty?
Read all of Nahum 3Nahum 3:18 word by word
נָמ֤וּ רֹעֶ֙יךָ֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ אַשּׁ֔וּר יִשְׁכְּנ֖וּ אַדִּירֶ֑יךָ נָפֹ֧שׁוּ עַמְּךָ֛ עַל־הֶהָרִ֖ים וְאֵ֥ין מְקַבֵּֽץ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Thy shepherdsרָעָהrâ‛âh · to pastureH7462
- slumberנוּםnûm · to slumberH5123
- O kingמֶ֫לֶךְmelek · kingH4428
- of Assyriaאַשּׁוּר'ashshûr 'ashshûr · AssyriaH804
- thy noblesאַדִּיר'addîyr · greatH117
- shall dwellשָׁכַןshâkan · to dwellH7931
- thy peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971
- is scatteredפּוּשׁpûsh · be scatteredH6335
- upon the mountainsהַרhar · mountain: mountH2022
- and no man gatherethקָבַץqâbats · to gatherH6908
Cross-references for Nahum 3:18
- Nahum 2:6The river gates have been torn open! The palace is about to collapse!
- Exodus 15:16terror and dread fall upon them. The power of your arm makes them lifeless as stone until your people pass by, O Lord, until the people you purchased pass by.
- Psalms 76:5Our boldest enemies have been plundered. They lie before us in the sleep of death. No warrior could lift a hand against us.
- Isaiah 56:9Come, wild animals of the field! Come, wild animals of the forest! Come and devour my people!
- Jeremiah 51:39And while they lie inflamed with all their wine, I will prepare a different kind of feast for them. I will make them drink until they fall asleep, and they will never wake up again,” says the Lord.
- Jeremiah 50:18Therefore, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Now I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I punished the king of Assyria.
- Ezekiel 31:3You are like mighty Assyria, which was once like a cedar of Lebanon, with beautiful branches that cast deep forest shade and with its top high among the clouds.
- Ezekiel 32:22“Assyria lies there surrounded by the graves of its army, those who were slaughtered by the sword.
- Isaiah 47:1“Come down, virgin daughter of Babylon, and sit in the dust. For your days of sitting on a throne have ended. O daughter of Babylonia, never again will you be the lovely princess, tender and delicate.
- Revelation 6:15Then everyone—the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person—all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
- 1 Kings 22:17Then Micaiah told him, “In a vision I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘Their master has been killed. Send them home in peace.’”
- Isaiah 13:14Everyone in Babylon will run about like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd. They will try to find their own people and flee to their own land.
Commentaries on Nahum 3:18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18Thy shepherds slumber - That is, the rulers and tributary princes, who, as Herodotus informs us, deserted Nineveh in the day of her distress, and came not forward to her succor. Diodorus Siculus says, lib. ii., when the enemy shut up the king in the city, many nations revolted, each going over to the besiegers, for the sake of their liberty; that the king despatched messengers to all his subjects, requiring power from them to succor him; and that he…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 18Thy shepherds - that is, they who should counsel for the people‘s good and feed it, and “keep watch over their flocks by night,” but are now like their master, the “King of Assyria,” are his shepherds not the shepherds of the people whom they care not for; these slumber, at once through listlessness and excess, and now have fallen asleep in death, as the Psalmist says, “They have slept their sleep” Psalm 76:6. The prophet speaks of the future, as already…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. 18shepherds: With the leaders gone, Nineveh’s people would scatter like sheep. sleep (see John 11:11–14): Assyria’s leaders, asleep during Nineveh’s crisis, would sleep in death. In contrast, Israel’s Protector does not slumber (Psalm 121:3), and he will gather Israel’s lost sheep (Jeremiah 23:3; Ezekiel 36:35).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1818. Thy shepherds--that is, Thy leaders. slumber--are carelessly secure [Maurer]. Rather, "lie in death's sleep, having been slain" [Jerome] (Ex 15:16; Psa 76:6). shall dwell in the dust--(Psa 7:5; 94:17). thy people is scattered--the necessary consequence of their leaders being laid low (1Ki 22:17).Read the comment
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
New Living Translation — © 1996, 2004, 2015 Tyndale House Foundation
Commentaries