Bible Strands
Nahum 3:14
Draw your water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Work the clay and tread the mortar; repair the brick kiln!
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet Nahum addresses the leadership and inhabitants of Nineveh, delivering this command immediately after describing the city's exposed gates and collapsed military morale.
The words — The imperative phrases "draw water for the siege" (שַׁאֲבִי־ מֵי מָצוֹר, sha'avi-mei matzor) and "strengthen your fortresses" (חַזְקִי מִבְצָרַיִךְ, chazqi mivtzarayikh) use direct commands to demand urgent logistical and structural preparation for a prolonged blockade.
The thread — The call to brace for attack and reinforce defenses runs through Nahum 2:1 and Jeremiah 46:3, while the focus on water management parallels the preparations recorded in 2 Chronicles 32:3.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to see that human efforts to secure water and walls are futile against the coming judgment, which Nahum 3:15 immediately confirms will be executed by fire and the sword.
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
Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 32:3 he consulted with his leaders and mighty men about stopping up the waters of the springs outside the city, and they helped him carry it out.
- Nahum 2:1 One who scatters advances against you, O Nineveh. Guard the fortress! Watch the road! Brace yourselves! Summon all your strength!
- Jeremiah 46:3 “Deploy your shields, small and large; advance for battle!
- 2 Chronicles 32:11 Is not Hezekiah misleading you to give you over to death by famine and thirst when he says, ‘The LORD our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria?’
- Isaiah 8:9 Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for battle, and be shattered; prepare for battle, and be shattered!
- Isaiah 22:9 You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the City of David. You collected water from the lower pool.
- Isaiah 37:25 I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
- Jeremiah 46:9 Advance, O horses! Race furiously, O chariots! Let the warriors come forth—Cush and Put carrying their shields, men of Lydia drawing the bow.
- Joel 3:9 Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war; rouse the mighty men; let all the men of war advance and attack!