(Nahum 1:1 NKJV)  The burden against Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

burden:  an utterance, chiefly a doom, --burden, prophecy,

Nineveh!  The same Nineveh that God had mercy on at the preaching of Jonah.  Now things have changed!

(Nahum 1:2 NKJV)  God is jealous, and the LORD avenges; The LORD avenges and is furious. The LORD will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies;

We don’t know an exact date, but some have said after 663 B.C.  Nineveh fell 612 B.C.  Remember, these are B.C. numbers there order is reversed.

What follows is a description of the God of judgment!

(Nahum 1:3-6 NKJV)  The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked. The LORD has His way In the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet. {4} He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, And dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, And the flower of Lebanon wilts.

 {5} The mountains quake before Him, The hills melt, And the earth heaves at His presence, Yes, the world and all who dwell in it.

(Heb 12:26)  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

(Heb 12:27-29 NKJV)  Now this, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. {28} Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. {29} For our God is a consuming fire.

God hasn’t changed!  He pardons those who seek Him, and destroys those who spurn Him.

(Nahum 1:6 NKJV)  Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, And the rocks are thrown down by Him.  {7} The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him.

Details of the Coming Destruction Begin to Come Together!

{8} But with an overflowing flood He will make an utter end of its place, And darkness will pursue His enemies. {9} What do you conspire against the LORD? He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time. {10} For while tangled like thorns, And while drunken like drunkards, They shall be devoured like stubble fully dried. {11} From you comes forth one Who plots evil against the LORD, A wicked counselor. {12} Thus says the LORD: "Though they are safe, and likewise many, Yet in this manner they will be cut down When he passes through. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more; {13} For now I will break off his yoke from you, And burst your bonds apart." {14} The LORD has given a command concerning you: "Your name shall be perpetuated no longer. Out of the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the molded image. I will dig your grave, For you are vile."

Listen to the Message from the King of Nineveh!

(2 Ki 19:10-14 NKJV)  "Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: 'Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." {11} 'Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? {12} 'Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? {13} 'Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?'"

(2 Ki 19:14) And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.

(2 Ki 19:15-19 NKJV)  Then Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said: "O LORD God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. {16} "Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. {17} "Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, {18} "and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands; wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. {19} "Now therefore, O LORD our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, You alone."

(2 Ki 19:20 NKJV)  Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard.'

(2 Ki 19:35-37 NKJV)  And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses; all dead. {36} So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. {37} Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

(Nahum 2:1-8 NKJV)  He who scatters has come up before your face. Man the fort! Watch the road! Strengthen your flanks! Fortify your power mightily. {2} For the LORD will restore the excellence of Jacob Like the excellence of Israel, For the emptiers have emptied them out And ruined their vine branches. {3} The shields of his mighty men are made red, The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots come with flaming torches In the day of his preparation, And the spears are brandished. {4} The chariots rage in the streets, They jostle one another in the broad roads; They seem like torches, They run like lightning. {5} He remembers his nobles; They stumble in their walk; They make haste to her walls, And the defense is prepared. {6} The gates of the rivers are opened, And the palace is dissolved. {7} It is decreed: She shall be led away captive, She shall be brought up; And her maidservants shall lead her as with the voice of doves, Beating their breasts.

{6} The gates of the rivers are opened, And the palace is dissolved.

Remember, Nineveh was a walled city.  It’s walls were 100 feet high and 50 feet think, so how could anything happen to Nineveh?

Here’s what happened:  In August, 612 BC, the “water from the Khazr River and other streams at flood stage caused the foundations of the walls to give way, and the ramparts collapsed, just as Nahum predicted in Nah. 2:6” – from The Word in Life study Bible.

(Nahum 2:13 NKJV)  "Behold, I am against you," says the LORD of hosts, "I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more." – No more messages of death and destruction.

(Nahum 3:1-7 NKJV)  Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. Its victim never departs. {2} The noise of a whip And the noise of rattling wheels, Of galloping horses, Of clattering chariots! {3} Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear. There is a multitude of slain, A great number of bodies, Countless corpses; They stumble over the corpses; {4} Because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot, The mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations through her harlotries, And families through her sorceries. {5} "Behold, I am against you," says the LORD of hosts; "I will lift your skirts over your face, I will show the nations your nakedness, And the kingdoms your shame. {6} I will cast abominable filth upon you, Make you vile, And make you a spectacle. {7} It shall come to pass that all who look upon you Will flee from you, and say, 'Nineveh is laid waste! Who will bemoan her?' Where shall I seek comforters for you?"

The book ends with a summary of the end of Nineveh?

(Nahum 3:18-19 NKJV)  Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; Your nobles rest in the dust. Your people are scattered on the mountains, And no one gathers them. {19} Your injury has no healing, Your wound is severe. All who hear news of you Will clap their hands over you, For upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?

Who is Saddened by the Death of the Wicked?

(2 Cor 5:7 NKJV)  For we walk by faith, not by sight.

(Psa 37:35-39 NKJV)  I have seen the wicked in great power, And spreading himself like a native green tree. {36} Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more; Indeed I sought him, but he could not be found. {37} Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; For the future of that man is peace. {38} But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; The future of the wicked shall be cut off. {39} But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in the time of trouble.