Nah 3:18 | KingComments | STEP | are addressed directly to the “king of Assyria”. He is the soul of the evil of Nineveh. In him all evil is concentrated and he is the executor of it. It is said to him that also the cohesion of the noble class – the “shepherds” or rulers and the “nobles” – collapses. Their fate is described with ironic ambiguity by Nahum. “Lying down” has the meaning of lying down dead (cf. ; ; ). The shepherds of the king of Assyria only pastured themselves. They led the flock, the Assyrian people, into evil and scattered them. The mountains of northern Assyria will be filled with scattered inhabitants (cf. ; ; ). “He will come to his end, and no one will help him” ( ).

‏ Nahum 3:18

The Leaders Killed, the People Scattered

Nah 3:18-19 are addressed directly to the “king of Assyria”. He is the soul of the evil of Nineveh. In him all evil is concentrated and he is the executor of it. It is said to him that also the cohesion of the noble class – the “shepherds” or rulers and the “nobles” – collapses. Their fate is described with ironic ambiguity by Nahum. “Lying down” has the meaning of lying down dead (cf. Psa 76:6; Isa 56:10; Jer 51:39).

The shepherds of the king of Assyria only pastured themselves. They led the flock, the Assyrian people, into evil and scattered them. The mountains of northern Assyria will be filled with scattered inhabitants (cf. Num 27:17; 1Kgs 22:17; Zec 13:7). “He will come to his end, and no one will help him” (Dan 11:45).