Nahum 3:7
What does Nahum 3:7 mean?
A plain-English look at Nahum 3:7 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Nahum 3:7 means
When Nineveh falls, onlookers will not weep; they will withdraw and announce, “Nineveh is laid waste.” The rhetorical questions—“Who will bemoan her? Where find comforters?”—answer themselves: no one will mourn. The city’s history of oppression has emptied the world’s sympathy. Abandonment by allies and neighbors reveals how utterly isolated the tyrant becomes when power collapses. This is part of judgment: God not only strikes the city but turns hearts away from her. Without friends, intercessors, or comforters, Nineveh’s desolation is complete. Her former terror produced no love, and so her end invites no lament, only acknowledgement and avoidance.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
KJV
King James Version · 1611And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And it will come about that all who see you will go in flight from you and say, Nineveh is made waste: who will be weeping for her? where am I to get comforters for her?
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And it hath come to pass, Each of thy beholders fleeth from thee, And hath said: `Spoiled is Nineveh, Who doth bemoan for her?' Whence do I seek comforters for thee?
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And it shall come to pass that every one that shall see thee, shall flee from thee, and shall say: Ninive is laid waste: who shall bemoan thee? whence shall I seek a comforter for thee?
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And it shall come to pass, [that] all they that see thee shall flee from thee, and shall say, Nineveh is laid waste! Who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
Context
This verse concludes the first movement (verses 1–7): indictment, invasion, cause, and humiliation, ending in the world’s refusal to mourn Nineveh. Next, the prophecy will recall a historical parallel (verses 8–10): No-amon’s fall, despite its advantages and allies. That example sets up the application to Nineveh (verse 11 and following). Seeing verse 7 as a hinge helps connect Nineveh’s unique guilt to a broader pattern: great cities that trust in might rather than in God come to an unlamented end.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Revelation 18:10
standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
- Jeremiah 51:41
How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth seized! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
- Jeremiah 51:9
We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country; for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
- Nahum 1:1
The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
- Lamentations 2:13
What shall I testify unto thee? what shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?
- Isaiah 51:19
These two things are befallen thee, who shall bemoan thee? desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort thee?
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