Nineveh’s Cruelty
Category: Failure of mercy & justice
Could endure: Remain humble after repentance (Jonah 3).
“When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented.” (Jonah 3:10)
Cross-Refs: Micah 6:8; Matthew 5:7.
Chose wrongly: Returned to bloodshed and oppression.
“Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims!” (Nahum 3:1)
Cross-Refs: Isaiah 10:13–14; Habakkuk 2:12.
Endured (negatively): Doomed to destruction.
“Woe to the city of blood!” (Nahum 3:1)
Cross-Refs: Ezekiel 24:9; Revelation 18:21.
Why (wrong motive): Lust for conquest, violence.
“Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number.” (Nahum 3:3)
Cross-Refs: Hosea 10:13; Matthew 26:52.
Result: Completely destroyed, never to rise again.
“Nothing can heal you; your wound is fatal.” (Nahum 3:19)
Cross-Refs: Zephaniah 2:13; Revelation 19:2.
Nineveh’s Arrogance
Category: Failure of humility
Could endure: Acknowledge God’s sovereignty.
“The LORD is slow to anger but great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished.” (Nahum 1:3)
Cross-Refs: Psalm 75:7; Daniel 4:37.
Chose wrongly: Trusted in strength and fortresses.
“Are you better than Thebes… yet she was taken captive?” (Nahum 3:8)
Cross-Refs: Isaiah 10:12–13; Obadiah 3–4.
Endured (negatively): Exposed as powerless.
“Your troops are weak; the gates of your land are wide open to your enemies.” (Nahum 3:13)
Cross-Refs: Jeremiah 50:35–37; Revelation 17:16.
Why (wrong motive): Pride, false security in armies and walls.
“All your fortresses are like fig trees with their first ripe fruit.” (Nahum 3:12)
Cross-Refs: Isaiah 30:1–3; Proverbs 16:18.
Result: Shame, mockery, downfall.
“All who hear the news about you clap their hands at your fall.” (Nahum 3:19)
Cross-Refs: Psalm 52:6–7; Revelation 18:9–10.
Nineveh’s Idolatry
Category: Failure of worship
Could endure: Worship the true God.
“All the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.” (Psalm 96:5)
Cross-Refs: Exodus 20:3–5; Isaiah 45:5.
Chose wrongly: Practiced witchcraft and false religion.
“All because of the wanton lust of a prostitute, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution.” (Nahum 3:4)
Cross-Refs: 2 Kings 17:29–33; Revelation 17:1–2.
Endured (negatively): Became enslaved themselves.
“I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness.” (Nahum 3:5)
Cross-Refs: Isaiah 47:3; Jeremiah 51:47.
Why (wrong motive): Lust, greed, spiritual rebellion.
“You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of the sky.” (Nahum 3:16)
Cross-Refs: Ezekiel 16:15; Revelation 18:11.
Result: Judgment, humiliation, extinction.
“I will pelt you with filth, I will treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle.” (Nahum 3:6)
Cross-Refs: Isaiah 13:19; Malachi 1:4.