Bible Strands
Nahum 1:8
But with an overwhelming flood He will make an end of Nineveh and pursue His enemies into darkness.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Nahum delivers this oracle against Nineveh, positioned between the declaration of God’s protective goodness in Nahum 1:7 and the warning that plotted schemes against Him will be terminated in Nahum 1:9. The speaker addresses the hostile nations, marking the transition from divine refuge to divine retribution.
The words — The Hebrew phrase וּ/בְ/שֶׁ֣טֶף (u./ve./She.tef) translates literally as "and with a flood," while כָּלָ֖ה (ka.Lah) means "complete destruction." These terms frame the coming judgment as an unstoppable, total wipeout.
The thread — The flood imagery recurs in Ezekiel 13:13 where God releases torrents of rain in wrath, and in Isaiah 28:17 where water sweeps away false refuge. The motif of enemies being driven into darkness appears in Isaiah 8:22 as a pattern of divine affliction.
Why it lands — The text declares that God will terminate Nineveh’s power and chase its adversaries into obscurity, demanding recognition that human schemes cannot withstand divine judgment. It requires the reader to acknowledge that plotting against God results in certain ruin rather than protection.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 13:13 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: In My wrath I will release a windstorm, and in My anger torrents of rain and hail will fall with destructive fury.
- Isaiah 8:22 Then they will look to the earth and see only distress and darkness and the gloom of anguish. And they will be driven into utter darkness.
- Isaiah 28:17 I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level. Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies, and water will flood your hiding place.
- Job 30:15 Terrors are turned loose against me; they drive away my dignity as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed like a cloud.
- Amos 8:8 Will not the land quake for this, and all its dwellers mourn? All of it will swell like the Nile; it will surge and then subside like the Nile in Egypt.
- Amos 9:5 The Lord GOD of Hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, and all its dwellers mourn—all the land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt—
- Zephaniah 2:13 And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria; He will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as a desert.
- Proverbs 4:19 But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.
- Isaiah 8:7 the Lord will surely bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—the king of Assyria and all his pomp. It will overflow its channels and overrun its banks.
- Jeremiah 13:16 Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. You wait for light, but He turns it into deep gloom and thick darkness.