Nahum 1:15
The oppressor is cut off
- The gospel’s word בָּשַׂר basar · to bear tidings
Original
Translations
Look to the mountains— the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows. For the wicked will never again march through you; they will be utterly cut off.
Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.
Behold, on the mountains the feet of one proclaiming tidings, sounding peace! Celebrate, O Judah, your festivals, complete your vows, For the worthless no longer pass over into you, He has been completely cut off!
볼지어다 아름다운 소식을 보하고 화평을 전하는 자의 발이 산 위에 있도다 유다야 네 절기를 지키고 네 서원을 갚을지어다 악인이 진멸되었으니 그가 다시는 네 가운데로 통행하지 아니하리로다
보라, 좋은 소식을 가져오며 화평을 널리 알리는 자의 발이 산들 위에 있도다! 오 유다야, 네 엄숙한 명절들을 지키고 네 서원을 이행하라. 그 사악한 자가 완전히 끊어져서 다시는 너를 지나가지 아니하리라.
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on Nah 1:9-15 as a whole
There is a great deal plotted against the Lord by the gates of hell, and against his kingdom in the world; but it will prove in vain. With some sinners God makes quick despatch; and one way or other, he will make an utter end of all his enemies. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley Nah 1:15
Keep - Be careful to serve God. Thy vows - Made in thy distress. The wicked - That wicked oppressor, Sennacherib.
Read the whole commentary →
Note
In words almost the same as Isaiah 52:7, Nahum sees the feet of a herald on the mountains. But his herald brings news of a different shape: the oppressor who trampled Judah has been cut off.
The book opens, "This is the burden against Nineveh" (Nahum 1:1). Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the empire that destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and laid heavy hands on Judah. Chapter 1 portrays the LORD as "a jealous and avenging God" (Nahum 1:2), and yet confesses, "The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of distress; He cares for those who trust in Him" (Nahum 1:7). To Judah He says, "For I will now break their yoke from your neck and tear away your shackles" (Nahum 1:13); to Nineveh, "There will be no descendants to carry on your name" (Nahum 1:14). Our verse is the herald who comes to say that it has happened. (In the Hebrew Bible it is 2:1.) Chapters 2 and 3 describe the city's fall, and the book ends, "All who hear the news of you applaud your downfall" (Nahum 3:19). Nineveh fell in 612 BC.
The herald is mevaser mashmia shalom, ‘one bringing news, one making peace heard’: the piel participle of paired with the hiphil participle of shama, ‘to hear,’ the same pair that opens Isaiah's herald verse (Isaiah 52:7). Isaiah's herald cries, "Your God reigns!"; Nahum's brings word that "the wicked will never again march through you; they will be utterly cut off." The Hebrew for "the wicked" is beliyya'al, the worthless or base one. And the news comes with commands for Judah: celebrate your feasts, fulfill your vows. The news comes first; worship is the answer to it.
The KJV keeps the echo of Isaiah plain: "Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!" The BSB opens with an imperative, "Look to the mountains— the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace!" The LSV is literal and vivid: "the feet of one proclaiming tidings, sounding peace!" and, for the enemy, "the worthless no longer pass over into you." In Korean, the 흠정역 uses the same phrase it uses in Isaiah 52:7, so a reader sees at once that the two verses are one picture; the 개역한글 uses a different verb here, 보하다, ‘to report.’
Wesley identifies the enemy: "The wicked - That wicked oppressor, Sennacherib", and the vows as those "Made in thy distress" Wesley. Matthew Henry writes, "The tidings of this great deliverance shall be welcomed with abundant joy" Matthew Henry, and then, pointing to Romans 10:15, carries the verse forward: "These words are applied to the great redemption wrought out by our Lord Jesus and the everlasting gospel" Matthew Henry. "Christ's ministers are messengers of good tidings, that preach peace by Jesus Christ" Matthew Henry.
Hebrews tells what enemy the gospel announces as broken: Christ shared our flesh "so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death" (Hebrews 2:14–15).
Nahum's news is that the oppressor has fallen, and the gospel has that side too. As "never again" gave Judah a reason to keep its feasts, the gospel first gives the one who hears it rest, because the enemy has been broken.