UNROLL
Evening across the Tigris: reeds and still water in front, and beyond them the vast flat-topped mud-brick walls of Nineveh along the far bank, a great gateway small in the middle, palaces on high platforms behind, under a calm dusk sky.

The Book of

Nahum Intro

The city that once repented, a century of cruelty, and a God who is slow to anger but never blind.

Before chapter 1≈ 2 min3 chapters

Images are artistic interpretations.

In 30 seconds

A century after Jonah, Nineveh is cruel again.

Assyria has crushed nation after nation.

Nahum says its end is coming.

The LORD is slow to anger, but He sees.

And for Judah: good news on the mountains.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Who wrote it

Nahum

A prophet from Elkosh, a town no one has found

  • His book is called the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.Nahum 1:1
  • He wrote after Thebes fell to Assyria in 663 BC.Nahum 3:8
  • Nineveh still stood, so before its fall in 612 BC.Most scholars
  • His name means comfort.The Hebrew name

His day

Assyria’s armies had reached the Nile.

Judah had lived under its yoke for decades.

In 612 BC the Babylonians and Medes took Nineveh.

How it’s built

Who, how, why

Who God is1:2–11: slow to anger,a strongholdGood news forJudah1:12–15: the yokebrokenThe siege2:1–10: the rivergates openThe empty den2:11–13: I am againstyouWoe to the city3:1–7: the city ofbloodNo healing3:8–19: no better thanThebes

Whiteboard

First who God is, then how Nineveh falls, then why.

How to read it

It is about Nineveh, but it was written for Judah.

Read it beside Jonah: the same city, the same God.

Its anger is God’s answer to cruelty.

Big themes

Three things to carry

Watch for

the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace!

Nahum 1:15

Start reading

Question

Quick question

Nahum is not the first prophet to speak to Nineveh.

Which prophet had preached in Nineveh about a century before Nahum?

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