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Nahum 1:2-8, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Nahum 1:2-8
The LORD Judges Evil and Knows Those Who Seek Refuge
The LORD's zeal and the LORD's patience are one confession
Before any chariot appears, the poem describes the LORD. He is jealous and avenging toward adversaries. Then, in the same breath, 'The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked.' Those two claims belong together. Patience is not a shrug; judgment is not a tantrum. The God who waits is the God who will not treat predatory guilt as if it were nothing.
Jealousy here is protective zeal against hostile evil, not insecure human envy. Vengeance is the LORD's judicial act. The poem does not deputize Judah, a church, or a nation to hunt enemies in God's name.
Creation convulses, and a refuge is named before the flood
Whirlwind, storm, clouds, dried sea and rivers, withered Bashan, Carmel, and Lebanon, quaking mountains, poured-out fire, rocks thrown down: the LORD's advance is larger than one army's technique. The point is not a weather forecast for Nineveh.
In the middle of that storm the poem turns: the LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knows them that trust in him. Then the contrast: an overrunning flood makes an utter end of the place of his enemies. Refuge and judgment are not two pamphlets stapled together. Distressed people are known; entrenched opposition is not given a moral pass. Jonah 4 uses the same slow-to-anger confession in Nineveh's earlier story of repentance. Nahum does not cancel that confession; it refuses to let patience mean that imperial bloodshed will be cleared automatically.
How this should shape us
Hold patience and accountability in one hand. Seek refuge rather than revenge. Do not baptize your anger as God's jealousy, and do not use delay as a way to protect harm from being named.
Teach it back
Explain Nahum 1:2-8 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: Disagreements concern the acrostic's extent and history, several difficult forms, whether verse 7 closes the hymn or verse 8 belongs with it, and whether the flood is literal, metaphorical, or double. The strongest contextual reading preserves the seven-verse movement from character through creation-scale power to refuge and judgment.
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 1:2-8, 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, 1:2-8
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, text-critical, poetic, historical, and uncertainty notes.
NET Bible Nahum PDF, printed pp. 1751-1754, translation and notes on 1:2-8
Supports: Literary movement, textual and historical alternatives, ethical criticism, gendered rhetoric, atrocity language, and reader responsibility.
O'Brien, Nahum, Second Edition, pp. 37-44
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 1:2-8, 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, 1:2-8
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. 1751-1754, translation and notes on 1:2-8
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. 37-44
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 ↗