Bible Strands
Nahum 3:15
There the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you down and consume you like a young locust. Make yourself many like the young locust; make yourself many like the swarming locust!
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet delivers a divine oracle against Nineveh immediately following commands for the city to prepare its defenses and stockpile supplies for an impending siege.
The words — The verb תֹּאכְלֵךְ (to.khe.lekh) literally means "it will consume you," and the imperative הִתְכַּבֵּד (hit.kha.bed) translates as "make yourself numerous."
The thread — The locust metaphor extends the swarm imagery of Joel 1:4 and appears in the same prophetic context as the sword and fire in Nahum 2:13 and Nahum 3:13.
Why it lands — The text states that fortified preparations will be consumed by fire and sword, then sarcastically orders the city to multiply like locusts to demonstrate the complete futility of human resistance against the stated judgment.
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
There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.
Cross-references
- Joel 1:4 What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.
- Nahum 2:13 “Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will reduce your chariots to cinders, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.”
- Nahum 3:13 Look at your troops—they are like your women! The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire consumes their bars.
- Exodus 10:13 So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and throughout that day and night the LORD sent an east wind across the land. By morning the east wind had brought the locusts.
- Joel 2:25 I will repay you for the years eaten by locusts—the swarming locust, the young locust, the destroying locust, and the devouring locust—My great army that I sent against you.
- 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.