Nahum 1:1, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Nahum 1:1
A Written Vision Directed against Nineveh
The heading aims a whole book at one imperial city
Nahum does not open with a king, a year, or a sermon to Judah. It opens with a 'burden of Nineveh': a prophetic oracle directed at the capital of Assyria, an ancient predatory empire, not a nickname for a modern people. The second label calls the work 'the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.' Vision here is prophetic seeing written down as a book. The reader is not handed a reporter's diary from a siege.
Jonah also names Nineveh, but this heading starts a different book and a different moment. Later lines will look back to Thebes and announce Nineveh's fall. Verse 1 dates neither. It names the target, the form, and the seer.
Elkosh is a hometown tag, not a settled map
Nahum is identified as the Elkoshite. Elkosh is not located. Galilee, Judah, and Assyria have all been proposed; none is proven by this line. No genealogy, reign, or audience address is supplied.
The honesty the heading requires is simple: Nineveh is named; Nahum is named; Elkosh is unknown. Reconstruction from later verses is later work, not a fact smuggled into the first line.
How this should shape us
Name what the text names and leave the rest labeled as reconstruction. Do not invent Nahum's town, date, or biography, and do not use 'Nineveh' as a slur for Iraqis, Mosul, or any living people.
Teach it back
Explain Nahum 1:1 in your own words. Include its place in the Nineveh-facing oracle, the unit's movement, one material uncertainty, and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters dispute Elkosh's location, whether the two title phrases reflect stages of collection, and the date of the book's final form. Confidence is strongest in the explicit claims: Nineveh is the subject, Nahum is called the Elkoshite, and the work presents itself as an oracle, book, and vision.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Nahum 1:1, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew words, morphology, clause relationships, repeated roots, names, and the base wording behind translation discussion.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Nah.xml, 1:1
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, text-critical, poetic, historical, and uncertainty notes.
NET Bible Nahum PDF, printed pp. 1751, translation and notes on 1:1
Supports: Literary movement, textual and historical alternatives, ethical criticism, gendered rhetoric, atrocity language, and reader responsibility.
O'Brien, Nahum, Second Edition, pp. 1-36, especially 20-36
Supports: Compact book outline, dating and compositional alternatives, verse-level difficulties, and ethical framing.
O'Brien, 'Nahum,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 599-601
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Nahum 1:1, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Nahum
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew words, morphology, clause relationships, repeated roots, names, and the base wording behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Nah.xml, 1:1
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Nahum with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, text-critical, poetic, historical, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Nahum PDF, printed pp. 1751, translation and notes on 1:1
Open source ↗scholarly commentary
Nahum, Second Edition
Julia M. O'Brien
Sheffield Phoenix Press, Readings: A New Biblical Commentary, 2009
Supports: Literary movement, textual and historical alternatives, ethical criticism, gendered rhetoric, atrocity language, and reader responsibility.
Exact location: O'Brien, Nahum, Second Edition, pp. 1-36, especially 20-36
Open source ↗scholarly commentary article
Nahum
Julia M. O'Brien
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, edited by John Barton and John Muddiman, 2001
Supports: Compact book outline, dating and compositional alternatives, verse-level difficulties, and ethical framing.
Exact location: O'Brien, 'Nahum,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 599-601
Open source ↗