Nahum 3:1-7, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Nahum 3:1-7
The Bloody City Is Accused and Publicly Shamed
The woe names blood, lies, robbery, and prey that never stops
Woe to the bloody city. It is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not. Before any stripping image, the oracle states the case: accumulated killing, deception, and seizure. Verses 2 and 3 then rush the ear with the noise of a whip, rattling wheels, prancing horses, jumping chariots, horseman, sword, spear, and a multitude of slain. There is a great number of carcases, and they stumble upon their corpses.
The soundscape is horror, not a soundtrack. Bodies are piled so that the reader cannot pretend imperial war is clean. That pile is not a good to imitate or a scene to enjoy.
The city is punished in a woman's body, and that rhetoric must not be reused
Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms: the metaphor personifies Nineveh as a seductive woman who traffics peoples. The target is imperial manipulation of nations, not Nineveh's women, not sex workers, and not anyone's sexual history.
The LORD of hosts repeats, I am against thee. He will discover her skirts upon her face and shew the nations her nakedness, cast abominable filth upon her, and make her vile, and set her as a gazingstock. All that look upon her shall flee and ask who will bemoan her. Ancient conquest talk often shamed cities by stripping a female figure. Naming that convention is not blessing it. Sexualized humiliation must not be preached as discipline, used as misogyny, or turned against survivors of assault. The indictment of bloodshed stands. The method of shaming a woman-shaped city must not be copied.
How this should shape us
Document killings, lies, and theft with evidence, not slurs. Protect bodies and names, especially of women and survivors. Never use stripping, sexual exposure, or harlot language as a tool of justice, politics, or church discipline.
Teach it back
Explain Nahum 3:1-7 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 differ over whether resistance-poetry context mitigates the rhetoric, whether a counter-reading should reject its gendered construction, and how divine agency should be understood. A responsible reading can affirm the indictment of imperial bloodshed while openly refusing harmful imitation of sexualized punishment.
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 3:1-7, 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, 3:1-7
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, text-critical, poetic, historical, and uncertainty notes.
NET Bible Nahum PDF, printed pp. 1761-1764, translation and notes on 3:1-7
Supports: Literary movement, textual and historical alternatives, ethical criticism, gendered rhetoric, atrocity language, and reader responsibility.
O'Brien, Nahum, Second Edition, pp. 59-65 and 80-128
Supports: Compact book outline, dating and compositional alternatives, verse-level difficulties, and ethical framing.
O'Brien, 'Nahum,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 599-601
Supports: Ancient city-as-woman rhetoric, gore and exposure language, interpretive harm, and reader accountability.
Wessels, 'Cultural sensitive readings of Nahum 3:1-7,' historical-cultural reading, feminist-critical discussion, and conclusion
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 3:1-7, 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, 3:1-7
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. 1761-1764, translation and notes on 3:1-7
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. 59-65 and 80-128
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 ↗peer reviewed journal article
Cultural sensitive readings of Nahum 3:1-7
Wilhelm J. Wessels
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 74.1, 2018
Supports: Ancient city-as-woman rhetoric, gore and exposure language, interpretive harm, and reader accountability.
Exact location: Wessels, 'Cultural sensitive readings of Nahum 3:1-7,' historical-cultural reading, feminist-critical discussion, and conclusion
Open source ↗