Nahum pronounces woe on the city of Nineveh. "Woe" is a term meaning great sorrow or distress. The Lord caused woe to Nineveh because of her great sins. In verses 1-4, Nahum reveals two of Nineveh's sins: first, the great violence and bloodshed the Assyrians visited upon their enemies; and second, her moral turpitude. She acted the part of an alluring prostitute in persuading other nations to follow her wicked ways.

Because of her sins, the Lord was against Nineveh. He would punish her. The Lord would humiliate her by using the Babylonians to expose her as a weak, contemptuous spectacle of a nation. He would leave Nineveh in ruins, without a single ally to aid her or even to comfort her (7).

The Ninevites should have learned from history. The city of Thebes had at one time been powerful, with mighty allies in Put and Libya. Yet the Assyrians themselves had destroyed her. The city of Nineveh would find herself in a similar situation.

Assyria's sins were her wound. It was a fatal wound. Just as she had done to other nations, so it would be done to her. And all the other nations on earth would rejoice at her doom.


Application: Father, you give us history to learn from. Help us to learn your judgment of sinful nations and help us to repent and be delivered by you.
One Word: The Lord will judge every wicked nation