Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Nahum 3:11 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 11. 11Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Applies Thebes' fate to Nineveh through drunken incapacity, hiding, and a desperate search for refuge from the enemy.
Read It With
- Nahum 3:8-11
Read Nahum 3:11 with 3:8-11. Applies Thebes' fate to Nineveh through drunken incapacity, hiding, and a desperate search for refuge from the enemy. The complete unit establishes this movement: Thebes had water defenses and formidable allies, yet Assyria conquered and brutalized it; Nineveh therefore cannot treat its own security as exceptional and will seek refuge from the same kind of enemy violence.
What Remains True
The conqueror cannot assume exemption from the vulnerability it imposed on others.
How It Can Shape Life
- Reject exceptionalism and create lawful refuge even for people inside a defeated hostile system.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Nahum 3:8-11 — Nineveh Cannot Claim Greater Security than Fallen ThebesSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Drunkenness is metaphorical incapacitation; the exact subject of hiding has variant nuances.
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 3:8-11, 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, 3:8-11
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. 1764-1765, translation and notes on 3:8-11
Open source ↗