📖 Biblical Definition
Nahum was a seventh-century BC prophet (c. 650-630 BC) whose three-chapter book is a sustained oracle of divine judgment against Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. A century after Jonah’s reluctant preaching had brought a generation of Ninevite repentance, the city had returned to its native violence and pride — and Nahum announces its complete and irreversible destruction: "The burden of Nineveh... The LORD is jealous, and the LORD revengeth" (Nahum 1:1-2). The prophecy was fulfilled with terrible precision in 612 BC when the Babylonians and Medes under Nabopolassar destroyed Nineveh utterly — so completely that for centuries its very site was forgotten. "Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery" (Nahum 3:1). God remembers and ends.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
7th-c BC prophet of Nineveh's destruction; comfort to the oppressed.
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7th century BC prophet whose three-chapter book is a sustained oracle of judgment against Nineveh, capital of Assyria. A century after Jonah's reluctant preaching brought Ninevite repentance, the city had returned to its violence and oppression of the nations. Nahum's name means "comfort" — comfort to the oppressed nations, judgment to the oppressor. The prophecy was fulfilled with extraordinary completeness in 612 BC when Babylonians and Medes destroyed Nineveh; the city was so thoroughly leveled that its very location was forgotten until 19th-century archaeology rediscovered it.
📖 Key Scripture
Nahum 1:7 — "The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him."
Nahum 1:14 — "The LORD hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown."
Nahum 3:7 — "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?"
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern readers struggle with the harsh judgment-oracles; the "comfort to the oppressed" half of Nahum's name is often missed.
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Nahum's three chapters are unrelenting judgment, which can sound cruel to modern ears. But the book is named "comfort" — for Israel and other nations long crushed under Assyria's brutality, news of Nineveh's coming destruction was profoundly comforting. The verb works one way for oppressor and the other for oppressed.
Recover the comfort-half: Nahum 1:7 is the calm center of an otherwise stormy book — "the LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him." The God who breaks Nineveh keeps His own.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew Nachum.
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['Hebrew', 'H5151', 'Nachum', 'Nahum, comfort']
Usage
"Comfort to oppressed; judgment to oppressor."
"Nineveh laid waste; who will bemoan her?"
"The LORD is good, a strong hold in trouble."