Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Nahum 3:1 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 1. 1Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Opens the woe oracle by naming Nineveh a city of bloodshed filled with lies, robbery, and never-departing prey.
Read It With
- Nahum 3:1-7
Read Nahum 3:1 with 3:1-7. Opens the woe oracle by naming Nineveh a city of bloodshed filled with lies, robbery, and never-departing prey. The complete unit establishes this movement: Nineveh's bloodshed, deception, and plunder return as battle carnage and humiliating public exposure, but the oracle uses gendered and sexualized city imagery whose ancient function must be named without reproducing harm.
Read Nahum 3:1–7 together
Why these verses belong together: The woe, battle carnage, because-clause, and exposure sentence form one accusation-and-shame oracle.
Verse 1. 1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;
Verse 2. 2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.
Verse 3. 3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:
Verse 4. 4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.
Verse 5. 5 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
Verse 6. 6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.
Verse 7. 7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
Follow the Context
- Verse 1 pronounces woe on a city filled with bloodshed, lies, robbery, and continuing prey.
- Verses 2-3 produce a sound-and-image rush of whips, wheels, horses, chariots, weapons, slain bodies, and stumbling over corpses.
- Verse 4 says 'because' and personifies Nineveh as an attractive prostitute and sorceress who sells nations and families.
- Verse 5 repeats the LORD of hosts' direct opposition and threatens to expose the city's nakedness before nations.
- Verse 6 adds filth, contempt, and public spectacle.
- Verse 7 pictures onlookers fleeing and refusing lament or comfort.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“bloody city”
In plain language: The phrase indicts accumulated bloodshed and controls the battle and shame rhetoric that follows.
Opens the woe oracle by naming Nineveh a city of bloodshed filled with lies, robbery, and never-departing prey. The oracle's central case against Nineveh is sustained violent and deceptive predation.
Why it matters: The wording carries interpretive or ethical risk that requires the full unit and its stated limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Nahum 3:1 does not make every resident of a violent city equally guilty or authorize violence against a modern city.
What Remains True
The oracle's central case against Nineveh is sustained violent and deceptive predation.
How It Can Shape Life
- Name systemic harms precisely and document victims rather than using enemy labels as substitutes for evidence.
Teach It Back
Explain Nahum 3:1's contribution to Nahum 3:1-7: Opens the woe oracle by naming Nineveh a city of bloodshed filled with lies, robbery, and never-departing prey. Include what the surrounding verses add, the stated uncertainty, and what this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Nahum 3:1-7 — The Bloody City Is Accused and Publicly ShamedSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The plural 'bloods' intensifies bloodshed or bloodguilt; the scope of 'all' is rhetorical characterization.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
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 ↗