skip to content
W
The Whosoever Study Bible
Whosoever will, may come.
nahum
Nahum the Elkoshite · c. 660–612 BC
Chapter the First

Patience Exhausted

The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 
God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. 
The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. 
He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. 
The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. 
Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. 
The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. 
But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies. 
What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. 
For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. 
There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor. 
Thus saith the LORD: Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. 
For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. 
And the LORD hath given a 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. 
Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off. 
DOCTRINAL VERDICT
TIER 1: EREKH APPAYIM HAS A DIRECTION

Built on the Jonah contrast. The same erekh appayim (slow to anger) that made God patient toward a repentant Nineveh is still present. But patience is not infinite, and repentance did not come again. The text that holds it together: The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and will by no means clear the guilty (1:3). Thread 1's patience has a direction. When the direction is refused long enough, the power acts. Verse 7 holds both truths simultaneously: The LORD is a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.

Built on the Jonah Contrast: The Long Nose Has a Direction
HOW TO USE
PROVISIONIST · DISPENSATIONAL · PRE-TRIBULATIONAL