The Book of Nahum
God's certain justice against a city that returned to violence.
Nahum announces the final destruction of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital that had repented under Jonah's preaching a century earlier only to return to brutal conquest. Its 3 chapters open with a striking description of God as patient yet powerful, slow to anger but unwilling to leave the guilty unpunished. Read Nahum chapter 1.
About Nahum
Nahum is the thirty-fourth book of the Bible and the seventh Minor Prophet, written by Nahum the Elkoshite around 660-612 BC (before the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC, which it predicts) and spanning 3 chapters. Where the book of Jonah records Nineveh's repentance approximately a century earlier, Nahum announces its final and total destruction -- Nineveh had returned to its brutal, bloodthirsty ways and its judgment was now irrevocable. The Assyrian Empire had been the terror of the ancient Near East, responsible for horrific atrocities, and Nahum's oracle is both a prophecy of judgment against Nineveh and a message of comfort and relief for the many nations that had suffered under Assyrian brutality. Major themes include the certainty of God's justice against persistent evil, the comfort that no human power operates outside God's sovereign control, the patience of God followed by inevitable reckoning, and the goodness of God toward those who trust in Him. Key verses include Nahum 1:7 -- The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him -- and Nahum 1:3 -- The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. Nahum KJV Bible reading reassures believers that God's justice, though sometimes long delayed, is absolutely certain. Read the Book of Nahum online here in full.