to tend a flock · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
slumber
נָמ֤וּna.Mu
H5123
to slumber (from drowsiness) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
king
מֶ֣לֶךְMe.lekh
H4428
a king · noun, common masculine singular construct
Assyria
אַשּׁ֔וּר'a.Shur
H804
Ashshur · proper noun, a place name
nobles
אַדִּירֶ֑יךָ'a.di.Rei.kha
H117
wide or (generally) large · adjective, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
dwell
יִשְׁכְּנ֖וּyish.ke.Nu
H7931
to reside or permanently stay (literally or figurativel… · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
people
עַמְּךָ֛'a.me.Kha
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
scattered
נָפֹ֧שׁוּna.Fo.shu
H6335
to spread · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person common plural
mountains
הֶהָרִ֖יםhe.ha.Rim
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
gathereth
מְקַבֵּֽץme.ka.Betz
H6908
to grasp · verb, piel active participle, masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Kings 22:17 And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them…
Psalms 76:5-6 The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have found their hands.
Isaiah 13:14 And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one int…
Jeremiah 50:18 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the ki…
Jeremiah 51:57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual slee…
Exodus 15:16 Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, til…
Isaiah 47:1 Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou s…
Isaiah 56:9-10 All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Nahum 3:8–end
Nineveh has been told that God is against her, and then none can be for her, to stand her in any stead; yet she sets God himself at defiance, and his power and justice, and says, I shall have peace. Threatened folks live long; therefore here the prophet largely shows how vain her confidences would prove and insufficient to ward off the judgment of God. To convince them of this,
I. He shows them that other places, which had been as strong and as secure as they, could not keep their ground against the judgments of God. Nineveh shall fall unpitied and uncomforted (for miserable comforters will those prove who speak peace to those on whom God will fasten trouble), and she shall not be able to he…
Thy shepherds--that is, Thy leaders.
slumber--are carelessly secure [MAURER]. Rather, "lie in death's sleep, having been slain" [JEROME] (Exo 15:16; Psa 76:6).
shall dwell in the dust-- (Psa 7:5; Psa 94:17).
thy people is scattered--the necessary consequence of their leaders being laid low (Kg1 22:17).
Adam Clarke on Nahum 3:18
Thy shepherds slumber - That is, the rulers and tributary princes, who, as Herodotus informs us, deserted Nineveh in the day of her distress, and came not forward to her succor.
Diodorus Siculus says, lib. ii., when the enemy shut up the king in the city, many nations revolted, each going over to the besiegers, for the sake of their liberty; that the king despatched messengers to all his subjects, requiring power from them to succor him; and that he thought himself able to endure the siege, and remained in expectation of armies which were to be raised throughout his empire, relying on the oracle that the city would not be taken till the river became its enemy. See the note on Nah 2:6.
John Gill on Nahum 3:18
Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria,.... Who this king of Assyria was is not easy to say; some think Esarhaddon, who is the last of the kings of Assyria the Scriptures speak of; according to Diodorus Siculus (n), Sardanapalus was the last of these kings, and in him the Assyrian monarchy ended; though, according to Alexander Polyhistor (o), Saracus, perhaps the Chyniladanus of Ptolemy, was king when Nineveh was destroyed: it is very likely that Sardanapalus and Saracus design the same person, though set at a great distance by historians; since the same things are said of the one as of the other; particularly that, when they saw their danger, they burnt themselves and theirs in the royal…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 18 onwards) Your shepherds have fallen asleep, O king of Assyria; your princes shall be buried, your people are scattered on the mountains. There is no one to gather them, your injury is not hidden, your wound is severe. All who hear of your downfall clap their hands over you, for against whom has your evil not passed continually? Septuagint: Your shepherds have fallen asleep; the king of Assyria has fallen asleep, your strong men have gone away, your people have gone up to the mountains, and there was no one to support them, and there is no cure for your injury, your wound is swollen. All who have heard your message will applaud you, because against whom does your malice never attack? It is not surprising if your shepherds have fallen asleep, O king of Assyria, who ruled over Nineveh, and may they be buried or wander, your princes, the little kings and the rulers of all nations who once served you: when the women of your people are in the midst of your city; and the gates of the city are open to your enemies, and a multitude sits on the wall like a swarm of locusts, which flees at the approach of the scorching sun, so will Nebuchadnezzar flee from the fortifications and turn his back on the enemy, and no place will be found for him. Therefore, angry with God, because you devastated His people, O Assyria, and exalted yourself even to the heavens, where you are said to have great understanding, your city is destroyed. And with all the princes slain, who could resist your adversaries, the rest of your people, weak and ignoble, are scattered in the mountains, and there is no leader to be found who can gather them together, and from those scattered, gather an army again. Your wound is not hidden, nor is it such a blow that can be healed by the hand of physicians. All those who hear of the destruction of Nineveh and the defeat of the Assyrian king, and the once powerful city and its wounded and half-dead king, lying in his own blood and rolling around, will either be amazed at the greatness of the event and the unexpected news, and they will clasp their hands or, certainly, they will rejoice greatly and applaud you with their hands and make a joyful noise. For there is no one who can grieve over you and give tears to your destruction and wounds, because there is no one whom your malice does not always pass over. And it passes over beautifully: for the…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Nineveh — First mentioned in Gen. 10:11, which is rendered in the Revised Version, “He [i.e., Nimrod] went forth into Assyria and builded Nineveh.” It is not again noticed till the days of Jonah, when it is…
Prophecy — Or prediction, was one of the functions of the prophet. It has been defined as a “miracle of knowledge, a declaration or description or representation of something future, beyond the power of human…
Shepherd — A word naturally of frequent occurence in Scripture. Sometimes the word “pastor” is used instead (Jer. 2:8; 3:15; 10:21; 12:10; 17:16). This word is used figuratively to represent the relation of…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Nahum 3:18
18. Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them
18. Dormitaverunt pastores tui, rex Assur; jacuerunt fortes tui; dispersus est populus tuus super montes, et nemo congregans.
He confirms the preceding verse, and says that there would be no counsel nor wisdom in the leading men: for the shepherds of the king of Assyria were his counselors, in whose wisdom he trusted, as we know that kings usually depend on their counselors: for they think that there is in them prudence enough, and therefore they commit to them the care of the whole people. But the Prophet ridicules the confiden…
Such an end will come to the Assyrian kingdom on the overthrow of Nineveh. Nah 3:18. "The shepherds have fallen asleep, king Asshur: thy glorious ones are lying there: thy people have scattered themselves upon the mountains, and no one gathers them. Nah 3:19. No alleviation to thy fracture, thy stroke is grievous: all who hear tidings of thee clap the hand over thee: for over whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?" The king of Asshur addressed in Nah 3:18 is not the last historical king of that kingdom, but a rhetorical personification of the holder of the imperial power of Assyria. His shepherds and glorious ones ('addı̄rı̄m, as in Nah 2:6) are the princes and great men, upon whom…
shepherds: With the leaders gone, Nineveh’s people would be scattered like sheep. • lie dead (literally sleep; see John 11:11-14): Assyria’s leaders, asleep during Nineveh’s crisis, would sleep in death. By contrast, Israel’s Shepherd does not slumber (Ps 121:3), and he will gather Israel’s lost sheep (Jer 23:3; Ezek 36:35).
Rashi on Nahum 3:18
Your leaders slumber Heb. נָמוּ, an expression of slumber
are at rest—They cannot stand up.
are scattered Heb. נָפָשׁוּ, like נָפֹצוּ, as all letters emanating from one source are interchangeable. “Zayin,” “shin,” “sammech,” and “tzaddi” all emanate from the tip of the tongue and the bottom of the teeth.
