Verse Lens · Context pointer
Nahum 3:12 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 12. 12All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Compares Nineveh's strongholds to first-ripe figs that fall into the eater's mouth with one shake.
Read It With
- Nahum 3:12-17
Read Nahum 3:12 with 3:12-17. Compares Nineveh's strongholds to first-ripe figs that fall into the eater's mouth with one shake. The complete unit establishes this movement: Nineveh's forts fall like ripe figs, its gendered warrior taunt exposes an ancient shame convention, its siege preparations fail, and its multiplied commercial and political networks vanish like locusts in the sun.
Read Nahum 3:12–17 together
Why these verses belong together: Falling forts, futile siege work, multiplication, merchants, officials, and locust flight jointly dismantle Nineveh's remaining defenses.
Verse 12. 12 All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.
Verse 13. 13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.
Verse 14. 14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.
Verse 15. 15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.
Verse 16. 16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.
Verse 17. 17 Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Nahum 3:12-17 — Strongholds, Preparations, and Imperial Networks VanishSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
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 3:12-17, 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, 3:12-17
Open source ↗