Nahum 3:10
What does Nahum 3:10 mean?
A plain-English look at Nahum 3:10 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Nahum 3:10 means
Despite her advantages, No-amon was exiled and shattered. The horrors listed—children slain, nobles gambled over, dignitaries chained—portray complete subjugation and humiliation. Such scenes were tragically common in ancient conquest, and Assyria itself had inflicted them on others. The point is not sensationalism but certainty: when God gives a city over, none of its social ranks are spared the consequences. The strong are bound; the honored are degraded. This is the cautionary mirror held up to Nineveh. If her heart is hard to mercy, she must at least be soft to history: what befell others can befall her, and soon will, by the same just hand.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity; her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity; her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949But even she has been taken away, she has gone away as a prisoner: even her young children are smashed to bits at the top of all the streets: the fate of her honoured men is put to the decision of chance, and all her great men are put in chains.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Even she doth become an exile, She hath gone into captivity, Even her sucklings are dashed to pieces At the top of all out-places, And for her honoured ones they cast a lot, And all her great ones have been bound in fetters.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Yet she also was removed and carried into captivity: her young children were dashed in pieces at the top of every street, and they cast lots upon her nobles, and all her great men were bound in fetters.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890She too was carried away, she went into captivity: her infants also were dashed in pieces, at the top of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound with chains.
Context
Verse 10 completes the three-verse example of No-amon’s fall. With that precedent vivid, verse 11 will turn directly to Nineveh: she too will be stupefied and driven to hide. The flow matters because it shows that God’s word is not arbitrary; it is anchored in patterns of providence. The fall of one proud city is a warning to all, and past judgments illuminate present threats. The narrative now pivots from example to application.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Amos 1:13
Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they may enlarge their border.
- Obadiah 1:11
In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.
- Hosea 13:16
Samaria shall bear her guilt; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.
- 2 Kings 8:12
And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strongholds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash in pieces their little ones, and rip up their women with child.
- Isaiah 13:6
Wail ye; for the day of Jehovah is at hand; as destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
- Isaiah 20:4
so shall the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt, and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
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