Nahum 1:13
What does Nahum 1:13 mean?
A plain-English look at Nahum 1:13 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Nahum 1:13 means
God promises immediate and decisive liberation: “I will break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.” The imagery recalls slavery and deliverance; Judah’s neck has been bowed under foreign rule, but God Himself will snap the bar and shatter the chains. This is not merely political change; it is divine intervention that restores dignity and freedom to God’s covenant people. For the faithful, the verse calls forth hope and readiness to walk as freed people. It anticipates the greater redemption in Christ, who breaks the deeper yoke of sin, though Nahum’s focus remains on relief from Assyrian oppression.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.
KJV
King James Version · 1611For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And now I will let his yoke be broken off you, and your chains be parted.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And now I break his rod from off thee, And thy bands I do draw away.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And now I will break in pieces his rod with which he struck thy back, and I will burst thy bonds asunder.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds asunder.
Context
Following the promise that affliction would cease, verse 13 pictures that promise with concrete emancipation language. It provides a pastoral application to Judah before the prophecy turns again to Nineveh’s fate in verse 14. The oscillation between comfort and judgment keeps both themes—deliverance for God’s people, destruction for their enemy—before the reader, leading into the final announcement of good news in verse 15.
v.12Thus saith Jehovah: Though they be in full strength, and likewise many, even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pass away. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.
v.13This passage
v.14And Jehovah hath given commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image; I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Isaiah 14:25
that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulder.
- Isaiah 9:4
For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, thou hast broken as in the day of Midian.
- Micah 5:5
And this man shall be our peace. When the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
- Psalms 107:14
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And brake their bonds in sunder.
- Jeremiah 5:5
I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they know the way of Jehovah, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
- Jeremiah 2:20
For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bonds; and thou saidst, I will not serve; for upon every high hill and under every green tree thou didst bow thyself, playing the harlot.
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