Nahum Chapter 3 verse 16 Holy Bible

ASV Nahum 3:16

Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm ravageth, and fleeth away.
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BBE Nahum 3:16

Let your traders be increased more than the stars of heaven:
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DARBY Nahum 3:16

Thou hast multiplied thy merchants more than the stars of the heavens; the cankerworm spreadeth himself out and flieth away.
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KJV Nahum 3:16

Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away.
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WBT Nahum 3:16


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WEB Nahum 3:16

You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the skies. The grasshopper strips, and flees away.
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YLT Nahum 3:16

Multiply thy merchants above the stars of the heavens, The cankerworm hath stripped off, and doth flee away.
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 16. - Its extensive commercial relations shall not save it. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants. Nineveh was most favourably situated for carrying on commerce with other countries. The roads from Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, and Phoenicia, that led into Media, Persia, and the interior of Asia, converged at Nineveh, and brought thither merchandise from all lands; and the Assyrians themselves exported their own produce and manufactures to the far West. Among these are enumerated textile fabrics, carpets, dyed attire, and embroidered work, carvings in ivory, gems, spices (see Rawlinson, 'Anc. Mon.,' 2:179, etc.; Layard, 'Nineveh,' 2:414, etc.). The cankerworm spoileth; or, spreadeth itself for plunder; Vulgate, expansus est; Septuagint, ὥρμησεν, "attacked." The cankerworm (see note on ver. 15) are the enemy,who spread themselves over the rich produce of Nineveh, and then flee away laden with spoil. Pusey makes the cankerworm represent Nineveh. She spread herself everywhere wasting and plundering, and now she is gone, has disappeared. But the former explanation better suits the comparison in ver. 15, where "the licker" is the enemy; and it is most natural that the prophet should allude to the fate of that commercial wealth which he has just mentioned, as in previous verses he contrasts the riches and power of Nineveh with the ruin that awaits them.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(16) Spoileth.--Better, spreads itself out: swarms out to spoil.