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Nahum 3:16

Judgment

14 Draw your water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Work the clay and tread the mortar; repair the brick kiln!

15 There the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you down and consume you like a young locust. Make yourself many like the young locust; make yourself many like the swarming locust!

You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips the land and flies away.

17 Your guards are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts that settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows where.

18 O king of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your officers sleep. Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them.

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This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB
You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips the land and flies away.
KJV
Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.
WEB
You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the skies. The grasshopper strips and flees away.
ASV
Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm ravageth, and fleeth away.
DARBY
Thou hast multiplied thy merchants more than the stars of the heavens; the cankerworm spreadeth himself out and flieth away.
BLB
You have multiplied your merchants above the stars of the heavens; the young locust strips [it] and flies away.
ÅB
Dine kremmere er flere enn himmelens stjerner; slikkerne bredte ut sine vinger og fløy bort.
OTB
Du har gjort dine handelsmenn mer tallrike enn himmelens stjerner—
Den krypende gresshoppen kaster sin hud og flyr bort.
B1930
Dine kremmere er flere enn himmelens stjerner; slikkerne bredte ut sine vinger og fløi bort.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • Genesis 15:5

    And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”

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  • Genesis 22:17

    I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

    Read in context

  • Jeremiah 33:22

    As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister before Me.”

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  • Nehemiah 9:23

    You multiplied their descendants like the stars of heaven and brought them to the land You had told their fathers to enter and possess.

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