Nahum 3:19
What does Nahum 3:19 mean?
A plain-English look at Nahum 3:19 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Nahum 3:19 means
The prophecy concludes with a stark sentence: Nineveh’s wound is beyond healing. Her hurt will not be soothed; the damage is terminal. Far from lamenting, those who hear of her fall clap their hands in relief and approval, for her relentless wickedness had touched them all. This is not petty gloating but a recognition that a brutal scourge has been removed. God’s justice is vindicated in public, and the oppressed are given closure. The empire that knew no limits in cruelty finds no comforters in collapse. The end is fitting, final, and instructive: unchecked evil invites an irreversible end.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000There is no assuaging of thy hurt; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the report of thee clap their hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
KJV
King James Version · 1611There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901There is no assuaging of thy hurt; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the report of thee clap their hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Your pain may not be made better; you are wounded to death: all those hearing the news about you will be waving their hands in joy over you: for who has not undergone the weight of your evil-doing again and again?
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862There is no weakening of thy destruction, Grievous <FI>is<Fi> thy smiting, All hearing thy fame have clapped the hand at thee, For over whom did not thy wickedness pass continually?
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Thy destruction is not hidden, thy wound is grievous: all that have heard the fame of thee, have clapped their hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890There is no healing of thy breach; thy wound is grievous; all that hear the report of thee clap the hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
Context
Verse 19 closes both the chapter and the book. After tracing Nineveh’s crimes, the sensory onslaught of siege, the precedent of No-amon, and the failure of defenses, commerce, and leadership, the final word declares the judgment irreversible and welcomed by the nations. This ending ties back to the opening woe (verse 1) and to the comfort for Judah implied throughout the prophecy: God does not overlook cruelty. Nineveh’s desolation stands as a lasting testimony to divine justice in history.
v.18Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy nobles are at rest; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and there is none to gather them.
v.19This passage
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Ezekiel 25:6
For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast clapped thy hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the despite of thy soul against the land of Israel;
- Isaiah 37:18
Of a truth, Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries, and their land,
- Job 27:23
Men shall clap their hands at him, And shall hiss him out of his place.
- Jeremiah 46:11
Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou use many medicines; there is no healing for thee.
- Zephaniah 2:13
And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like the wilderness.
- Jeremiah 30:13
There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.
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