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Read the Bible

King James Version

Nahum 1:8

But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Wicked (People);   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Nineveh;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Flood, the;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Media;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Lion;   Nahum (2);   Nineveh;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Nahum;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Acrostic;   Nahum;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Nineveh ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Nahum;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Assyria;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Flood;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Nineveh;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Nineveh;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Darkness;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
But he will completely destroy Ninevehwith an overwhelming flood,and he will chase his enemies into darkness.
Hebrew Names Version
But with an overflowing flood, he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
King James Version (1611)
But with an ouer-running flood he will make an vtter ende of the place thereof, and darkenesse shall pursue his enemies.
English Standard Version
But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
New American Standard Bible
But with an overflowing flood He will make a complete end of its site, And will pursue His enemies into darkness.
New Century Version
But like a rushing flood, he will completely destroy Nineveh; he will chase his enemies until he kills them.
Amplified Bible
But with an overwhelming flood [of judgment through invading armies] He will make a complete destruction of its site And will pursue His enemies into darkness.
Geneva Bible (1587)
But passing ouer as with a flood, he will vtterly destroy the place thereof, and darknesse shall pursue his enemies.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
But with an overflowing flood He will make a complete end of its site, And will pursue His enemies into darkness.
Legacy Standard Bible
But with an overflowing floodHe will make a complete destruction of its placeAnd will pursue His enemies into darkness.
Berean Standard Bible
But with an overflowing flood, He will make an end of Nineveh and pursue His enemies into darkness.
Contemporary English Version
But like a roaring flood, the Lord chases his enemies into dark places and destroys them.
Complete Jewish Bible
But with an overwhelming flood he will make an end of [Ninveh's] place, and darkness will pursue his enemies.
Darby Translation
But with an overrunning flood he will make a full end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
Easy-to-Read Version
But he will completely destroy his enemies. He will wash them away like a flood and chase them into the darkness.
George Lamsa Translation
But with a rushing flood he will make an utter end of the place of his adversaries, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
Good News Translation
Like a great rushing flood he completely destroys his enemies; he sends to their death those who oppose him.
Lexham English Bible
But with a rushing torrent he will bring Nineveh to an end; he will chase his enemies into darkness.
Literal Translation
But with a flood passing through, He will make a complete end of its place, and darkness shall pursue His enemies.
American Standard Version
But with an over-running flood he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
Bible in Basic English
But like water overflowing he will take them away; he will put an end to those who come up against him, driving his haters into the dark.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
But with an overrunning flood He will make a full end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue His enemies.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
But with an ouerrunning flood he wil destroy her place, and will pursue his enemies with darkenesse.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end: darkness shall pursue those that rise up against him and his enemies.
English Revised Version
But with an overrunning flood he will make a full end of the place thereof, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
World English Bible
But with an overflowing flood, he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And in greet flood passynge forth, he schal make ende of his place; and derknessis schulen pursue hise enemyes.
Update Bible Version
But with an over-running flood he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
Webster's Bible Translation
But with an over-running flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
New English Translation
But with an overwhelming flood he will make a complete end of Nineveh; he will drive his enemies into darkness.
New King James Version
But with an overflowing flood He will make an utter end of its place, And darkness will pursue His enemies.
New Living Translation
But he will sweep away his enemies in an overwhelming flood. He will pursue his foes into the darkness of night.
New Life Bible
But He will put an end to Nineveh by making a flood flow over it. And He will drive those who hate Him into darkness.
New Revised Standard
even in a rushing flood. He will make a full end of his adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, with an overflow rolling on, a full end, will he make of them who rise up against him, - and, his foes, will he pursue into darkness.
Douay-Rheims Bible
But with a flood that passeth by, he will make an utter end of the place thereof: and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
Revised Standard Version
But with an overflowing flood he will make a full end of his adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
Young's Literal Translation
And with a flood passing over, An end He maketh of its place, And His enemies doth darkness pursue.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
when the floude renneth ouer, and destroyeth the place, and when the darcknesse foloweth still vpon his enemies.

Contextual Overview

2 God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. 3 The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. 4 He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. 5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. 6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. 7 The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. 8 But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

with: Isaiah 8:7, Isaiah 8:8, Isaiah 28:17, Ezekiel 13:13, Daniel 9:26, Daniel 11:10, Daniel 11:22, Daniel 11:40, Amos 8:8, Amos 9:5, Amos 9:6, Matthew 7:27, 2 Peter 3:6, 2 Peter 3:7

the place: Nahum 1:1, Nahum 2:8, Zephaniah 2:13

darkness: Job 30:15, Proverbs 4:19, Isaiah 8:22, Jeremiah 13:16, Matthew 8:12

Reciprocal: Isaiah 28:2 - as a tempest Isaiah 32:19 - the city shall be low Isaiah 45:7 - create darkness Jeremiah 30:16 - General Jeremiah 47:2 - waters Jeremiah 51:64 - Thus shall Ezekiel 13:11 - there shall Ezekiel 20:17 - neither Amos 5:20 - darkness Amos 7:8 - I will not Luke 6:48 - the flood Luke 19:27 - General Hebrews 10:27 - which

Cross-References

Genesis 1:5
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Genesis 1:10
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:13
And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Genesis 1:19
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Genesis 1:23
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Genesis 1:31
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 5:2
Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof,.... Of Nineveh, against whom this prophecy was, and upon whom it lay as a burden, Nahum 1:1; and now though the Lord was good to them that trust in him, and a strong hold to them in a time of trouble; yet he was determined to destroy their enemies the Assyrians, and Nineveh their chief city; and that by the means of a powerful army, which, like a flood or inundation of water breaking in, overruns and carries all before it; and very fitly may the Medes and Babylonians, who joined together in an expedition against Nineveh, be compared to such a flood for their number and force; since, as the historian tells y us, they were no less than four hundred thousand men: though this may be literally understood; for as the same writer z observes,

"there was an oracle received by the Ninevites from their ancestors, that Nineveh could never be taken by any, unless the river (on which it stood) first became an enemy to it; and so it was, that, in the third year of the siege, the river, being swelled with continual rains, overflowed part of the city, and broke down the wall for the space of two and half miles; hence the king concluded the oracle was fulfilled, and gave up all hopes of safety; and through the breach of the wall the enemy entered, and took the city;''

and an "utter end" was made of it, and of the place of it, insomuch that historians and geographers disagree about it; some say it was situated upon the river Euphrates, others upon the river Tigris, which is the most correct; some say on the east of that river, others on the west; some will have it to be above the river Lycus, and others below it; so true is that of Lucian a, that Nineveh is now entirely lost, and no traces of it remain; nor can one easily say where it once was; and travellers in general, both ancient and modern, agree that it lies wholly in ruins, and is a heap of rubbish. Benjamin Tudelensis b, who travelled into these parts in the twelfth century, relates, that between Almozal or Mosul, and Nineveh, is only a bridge, and it (Nineveh) is a waste; but there are villages, and many towers. Haitho, an Armenian c, who wrote more than a hundred years after the former, says,

"this city (Nineveh) at present is wholly destroyed; but, by what yet appears in it, it may be firmly believed that it was one of the greatest cities in the world.''

Monsieur Thevenot d, who was upon the spot in the last century, observes,

"on the other side of the river (Tigris from that on which Mosul stands) at the end of the bridge begins the place, where, in ancient times, stood the famous city of Nineveh. --There is nothing of it, (adds he) now to be seen, but some hillocks, which (they say) are its foundations, the houses being underneath; and these reach a good way below the city of Mosul:''

and darkness shall pursue his enemies; the enemies of God and his people, who would make such a devastation of Nineveh; even he would cause all manner of calamities, often signified in Scripture by darkness, to follow and overtake them; so that they should be brought into the most uncomfortable and distressed condition imaginable.

y Diodor. Sicul. l. 2. p. 111. Ed. Rhodum. z Ibid. p. 113, 114. a επισκοπ. sive, "contemplantes", in fine. b Itinerarium, p. 62. c Apud Bochart Phaleg. l. 4. c. 20. p. 255. d Travels, par. 1. B. 1. c. 11. p. 52.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But with an overrunning flood He will make an utter end of the place thereof - that is, of Nineveh, although not as yet named, except in the title of the prophecy, yet present to the prophet’s mind and his hearers, and that the more solemnly, as being the object of the wrath of God, so that, although unnamed, it would be known so to be. Image and reality, the first destruction and the last which it pictures, meet in the same words. Nineveh itself was overthrown through the swelling of the rivers which flowed around it and seemed to be its defense (see the note at Nahum 2:6). Then also, the flood is the tide of the armies, gathered from all quarters, Babylonians , Medes, Persians, Arabians, Bactrians, which like a flood should sweep over Nineveh and leave nothing standing. It is also the flood of the wrath of God, in whose Hands they were and who, by them, should “make a full end of it,” literally, “make the place thereof a thing consumed,” a thing which has ceased to be. For a while, some ruins existed, whose name and history ceased to be known; soon after, the ruins themselves were effaced and buried . Such was the close of a city, almost coeval with the flood, which had now stood almost as many years as have passed since Christ came, but which now defied God. Marvelous image of the evil world itself, which shall flee away from the face of Him who sat on the throne, “and there was found no place for it” Revelation 20:11.

And darkness shall pursue His enemies - Better, “He shall pursue His enemies into darkness” Darkness is, in the Old Testament, the condition, or state in which a person is, or lives; it is not an agent, which pursues. Isaiah speaks of the “inhabitants of darkness” Isaiah 42:7, “entering unto darkness” Isaiah 47:5; “those who are in darkness” Isaiah 49:9. “The grave is all darkness” Psalms 88:12; Job 17:13, “darkness, and the shadow of death” Job 10:21. Hence, even Jews rendered , “He shall deliver them to hell.” Into this darkness it is said, God shall pursue them, as other prophets speak of being “driven forth into darkness” . The darkness, the motionless drear abode, to which they are driven, anticipates the being cast into “the outer darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Rup.: “The vengeance of God on” these who remain “His enemies” to the last, “ends not with the death of the body; but evil spirits, who are darkness and not light, pursue their souls, and seize them.” They would not hear Christ calling to them, “Walk, while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you” John 12:35. “They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof” Job 24:13. “They loved darkness rather than light” John 3:19. And so they were driven into the darkness which they chose and loved.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 8. But with an overrunning flood — Bishop Newcome thinks this may refer to the manner in which Nineveh was taken. The Euphrates overflowed its banks, deluged a part of the city, and overturned twenty stadia of the wall; in consequence of which the desponding king burnt himself, and his palace, with his treasures. - Diodor. Sic., Edit. Wessel., p. 140, lib. ii., s. 27.

Darkness shall pursue — Calamity. All kinds of calamity shall pursue them till they are destroyed.


 
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