What is the meaning of Nahum 3:11? You too will become drunk • Nahum turns from describing Thebes’ downfall (3:8–10) to announcing that Nineveh will share the same fate. The phrase “become drunk” is a vivid picture of God’s judgment. Scripture often speaks of the “cup” of God’s wrath that makes nations stagger—as in Isaiah 51:17, Jeremiah 25:15-17, and Habakkuk 2:16. • The image is not about literal intoxication for celebration; it is the forced, bewildering disorientation that comes when the Almighty pours out His anger (Psalm 75:8). • By saying “You too,” the prophet underscores that not even mighty Assyria is exempt. Just as others drank the cup, so will Nineveh. God’s justice is consistent (Romans 2:11). You will go into hiding • Drunken staggering leads to panic. The powerful city that once made the earth tremble (Nahum 2:10-11) will now cower, trying to disappear. • Throughout Scripture, those under divine judgment vainly attempt to hide: Adam and Eve in the garden (Genesis 3:8), the inhabitants of the earth in Revelation 6:15-17. Nineveh will repeat the pattern. • The futility of hiding from God is stressed in passages like Amos 9:2-3 and Jeremiah 49:10. Judgment exposes; it does not overlook. and seek refuge from the enemy • Nineveh’s walls, moats, alliances, and military brilliance once offered a sense of invincibility (Nahum 2:1, 3:12-13). Yet in the day of reckoning, she will scramble for any shelter—too late. • Only one refuge truly holds: “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of distress” (Nahum 1:7). Those who spurn Him, like Assyria, find no safe haven (Psalm 2:12). • Ironically, the God whom Nineveh opposes is the very One she could have turned to for mercy, as illustrated decades earlier in Jonah 3:5-10. Rejecting that mercy now leaves her exposed. summary Nahum 3:11 compresses Assyria’s downfall into three swift strokes: staggering under God’s wrath, frantically hiding, and vainly searching for safety. The verse assures readers that no power—however proud—can outrun divine justice. Only humble trust in the Lord provides lasting refuge. |
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