Nahum 3:15

New Life Version

There the fire will destroy you. The sword will kill you. It will destroy you like the locust. Make yourselves as many as the locusts, as many as the flying locusts.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The fire will devour you there;the sword will cut you down.It will devour you like the young locust.Multiply yourselves like the young locust;multiply like the swarming locust!

Hebrew Names Version
There the fire will devour you. The sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the khagav. Multiply like grasshoppers. Multiply like the arbeh.

King James Version (1611)
There shall the fire deuoure thee: the sword shall cut thee off: it shall eate thee vp like the cankerworme: make thy selfe many as the cankerworme, make thy selfe many as the locusts.

King James Version
There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.

English Standard Version
There will the fire devour you; the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust; multiply like the grasshopper!

New American Standard Bible
There fire will consume you, The sword will cut you down; It will consume you as the creeping locust consumes a crop. Multiply yourself like the creeping locust, Multiply yourself like the migratory locust.

New Century Version
There the fire will burn you up. The sword will kill you; like grasshoppers eating crops, the battle will completely destroy you. Grow in number like hopping locusts; grow in number like swarming locusts!

Amplified Bible
But there [in the very midst of these preparations] the fire will devour you; The sword will cut you down; It will devour you as the locust does. Multiply yourself like the creeping locusts; Multiply yourself like the swarming locusts.

Geneva Bible (1587)
There shall ye fire deuoure thee: the sword shall cut thee off: it shall eate thee vp like the locustes, though thou bee multiplied like the locustes, and multiplyed like the grashopper.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
There fire will consume you, The sword will cut you down; It will consume you as the locust does. Multiply yourself like the creeping locust, Multiply yourself like the swarming locust.

Legacy Standard Bible
There, fire will consume you;The sword will cut you down;It will consume you as the locust does.Multiply yourself like the creeping locust,Multiply yourself like the swarming locust.

Berean Standard Bible
There the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you down and consume you like a young locust. Make yourself many like the young locust; make yourself many like the swarming locust!

Contemporary English Version
You will still go up in flames and be cut down by swords that will wipe you out like wheat attacked by grasshoppers. So, go ahead and increase like a swarm of locusts!

Complete Jewish Bible
There the fire will burn you up; and the sword will cut you down; it will devour you like grasshoppers. Make yourselves as many as grasshoppers, Make yourselves as many as locusts!

Darby Translation
There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee like the cankerworm. Make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locust.

Easy-to-Read Version
You can do all these things, but the fire will still destroy you completely. And the sword will kill you. Your land will look like a swarm of grasshoppers came and ate everything. Nineveh, you grew and grew. You became like a swarm of grasshoppers. You were like a swarm of locusts.

George Lamsa Translation
There shall the fire devour you, the sword shall cut you off; it shall devour you like the crawling locust because you have become many like the crawling locust and multiplied like the locust.

Good News Translation
No matter what you do, you will still be burned to death or killed in battle. You will be wiped out like crops eaten up by locusts. You multiplied like locusts!

Lexham English Bible
There fire will consume you; the sword will cut you off. It will consume you like the locust. Multiply yourself like the locust! Multiply yourself like the grasshopper!

Literal Translation
Fire will devour you there. The sword shall cut you off. It will eat you up like the locust larvae. Make yourself as many as the larvae; multiply yourself like the locusts.

American Standard Version
There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee like the canker-worm: make thyself many as the canker-worm; make thyself many as the locust.

Bible in Basic English
There the fire will make you waste; you will be cut off by the sword: make yourself as great in number as the worms, as great in number as the locusts.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall devour thee like the canker-worm; make thyself many as the canker-worm, make thyself many as the locusts.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
There the fire shall deuoure thee, the sword shall cut thee of, shall deuoure as the locust, though [thou] be multiplied as the locust, though thou be as many as the grashopper.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
There the fire shall devour thee; the sword shall utterly destroy thee, it shall devour thee as the locust, and thou shalt be pressed down as a palmerworm.

English Revised Version
There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall devour thee like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locust.

World English Bible
There the fire will devour you. The sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the grasshopper. Multiply like grasshoppers. Multiply like the locust.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
There fier schal ete thee, thou schalt perische bi swerd, it schal deuoure thee, as bruke doith; be thou gaderid togidere as a bruke, be thou multiplied as a locuste.

Update Bible Version
There the fire shall devour you; the sword shall cut you off; it shall devour you like the canker-worm: make yourself many as the canker-worm; make yourself many as the locust.

Webster's Bible Translation
There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the canker-worm: make thyself many as the canker-worm, make thyself many as the locusts.

New English Translation
There the fire will consume you; the sword will cut you down; it will devour you like the young locust would. Multiply yourself like the young locust; multiply yourself like the flying locust!

New King James Version
There the fire will devour you, The sword will cut you off; It will eat you up like a locust. Make yourself many--like the locust! Make yourself many-- like the swarming locusts!

New Living Translation
But the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you down. The enemy will consume you like locusts, devouring everything they see. There will be no escape, even if you multiply like swarming locusts.

New Revised Standard
There the fire will devour you, the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust, multiply like the grasshopper!

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
There, shall a fire devour thee, the sword, shall cut thee off, it shall devour thee like the grass locust, make thyself numerous like the grass locust, make thyself numerous as the swarming locust:

Douay-Rheims Bible
There shall the fire devour thee: thou shalt perish by the sword, it shall devour thee like the bruchus: assemble together like the bruchus, make thyself many like the locust.

Revised Standard Version
There will the fire devour you, the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust, multiply like the grasshopper!

Young's Literal Translation
There consume thee doth a fire, Cut thee off doth a sword, It doth consume thee as a cankerworm! Make thyself heavy as the cankerworm, Make thyself heavy as the locust.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
yet the fyre shal consume the, the swerde shal destroye the, yee as ye locuste doth, so shal it eate the vp. It shal fall heuely vpon the as the locustes, yee right heuely shal it fall vpon the, euen as the greshoppers.

Contextual Overview

⁸ Are you better than Thebes, which is by the Nile River? Water was all around her. The sea kept her safe, for the water was her wall. ⁹ Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, with too many to number. Put and Lubim were among her helpers. ¹⁰ Yet she was taken away to a strange land. She was taken away in chains. Her small children were beaten to death at every street corner. They drew names to see who would get her men of honor. And all her great men were put in chains. ¹¹ You also will become drunk. You will be hidden. You will look for a safe place from those who hate you. ¹² All your strong towers are like fig trees with first-fruits. When they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the one who eats them. ¹³ Your soldiers are all women. The gates of your land are opened wide to those who hate you. Fire destroys your gates. ¹⁴ Store up water to drink when you are shut in by armies! Make your walls stronger! Go into the clay to make more clay blocks for building! ¹⁵ There the fire will destroy you. The sword will kill you. It will destroy you like the locust. Make yourselves as many as the locusts, as many as the flying locusts. ¹⁶ You have more traders than the stars of heaven. The locust destroys everything from the land and flies away. ¹⁷ Your watchmen are like the flying locusts. Your leaders are like clouds of locusts. They stay in the stone walls on a cold day. When the sun rises they fly away and no one knows where they are.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

shall the: Nahum 3:13, Nahum 2:13, Zephaniah 2:13

it: Joel 1:4, Joel 2:25

make thyself many as the locusts: Exodus 10:13-15

Reciprocal: Jeremiah 51:12 - the standard Jeremiah 51:14 - as with Jeremiah 51:27 - cause Amos 7:1 - he 2 Timothy 2:17 - their word Revelation 9:3 - locusts

Cross-References

Genesis 3:1
Now the snake was more able to fool others than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say that you should not eat from any tree in the garden?"

Genesis 3:3
But from the tree which is in the center of the garden, God has said, ‘Do not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"

Genesis 3:4
The snake said to the woman, "No, you for sure will not die!

Genesis 3:6
The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and pleasing to the eyes, and could fill the desire of making one wise. So she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate.

Genesis 3:7
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were without clothes. So they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves clothing.

Genesis 3:8
Then they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the evening. The man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Genesis 3:10
And the man said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden. I was afraid because I was without clothes. So I hid myself."

Genesis 3:13
Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The snake fooled me, and I ate."

Genesis 3:14
Then the Lord God said to the snake, "Because you have done this, you will be hated and will suffer more than all cattle, and more than every animal of the field. You will go on your stomach and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

Genesis 3:15
And I will make you and the woman hate each other, and your seed and her seed will hate each other. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

There shall the fire devour thee,.... In the strong holds, made ever so firm and secure; either the fire of divine wrath; or the fire of the enemy they should put into them; or the enemy himself, as Kimchi; and so the Targum,

"thither shall come upon thee people who are as strong as fire:''

the sword shall cut thee off; it shall eat thee up as the cankerworm: that is, the sword of the Medes and Chaldeans shall utterly destroy thee, as the cankerworm is destroyed by rain or fire; or rather, as that creature destroys all herbs, plants, and trees it falls upon, and makes clear riddance of them, so should it be with Nineveh:

make thyself many as the cankerworm; make thyself many as the locust; which go in swarms, innumerable, and make the air "heavy" in which they fly, and the earth on which they fall, as the word y signifies. The locust has one of its names, "arbah", in Hebrew, from the large numbers of them; so a multitude of men, and large armies, are often signified in Scripture to be like grasshoppers or locusts, for their numbers; see Judges 6:5. So Sithalces king of Thrace is represented z as swearing, while he was sacrificing, that he would assist the Athenians, having an army that would come like locusts, that is, in such numbers; for so the Greek scholiast on the place says the word used signifies a sort of locusts: the sense is, gather together as many soldiers, and as large an army, as can be obtained to meet the enemy, or cause him to break up the siege: and so we find a the king of Assyria did; for, perceiving his kingdom in great danger, he sent into all his provinces to raise soldiers, and prepare everything for the siege; but all to no purpose, which is here ironically suggested. The word in the Misnic language, as Kimchi observes, has the signification of sweeping; and some render it, "sweep as the locust" b; which sweeps away and consumes the fruits of the earth; so sweep with the besom of destruction, as Jarchi, either their enemies, sarcastically spoken, or be thou swept by them.

y התכבד "aggravate", Montanus; "onerate", Tigurine version; "gravem effice te", Burkius. z Aristophan. in Acharnens. Act. 1. Scen. 1. a Diodor. Sicul. l. 2. p. 113. b So R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 39. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

There - where thou didst fence thyself, and madest such manifold and toilsome preparation,

Shall the fire devour thee. - All is toil within. The fire of God’s wrath falls and consumes at once. Mankind still, with mire and clay, build themselves Babels. “They go into clay,” and become themselves earthly like the mire they steep themselves in. They make themselves strong, as though they thought “that their houses shall continue forever” Psalms 49:11, and say, “So, take thine ease eat, drink and be merry” Luke 12:19-20. God’s wrath descends. “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. It shall eat thee up like the canker-worm.” What in thee is strongest, shall be devoured with as much ease as the locust devours the tender grass. The judgments of God, not only overwhelm as a whole, but find cut each tender part, as the locust devours each single blade.

Make thyself many as the cankerworm - As though thou wouldest equal thyself in oppressive number to those instruments of the vengeance of God, gathering from all quarters armies to help thee; yea, though thou make thy whole self one oppressive multitude, yet it shall not avail thee. Nay, He saith, thou hast essayed to do it.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Nahum 3:15. Make thyself many as the cankerworm — On the locusts, and their operations in their various states, see the notes on Joel 2:2. The multitudes, successive swarms, and devastation occasioned by locusts, is one of the most expressive similes that could be used to point out the successive armies and all-destroying influences of the enemies of Nineveh. The account of these destroyers from Dr. Shaw, inserted Joel 2:2-11; Joel 2:20, will fully illustrate the verses where allusion is made to locusts.