Nahum 1:3

Filipino Cebuano Bible

3 Si Jehova mahinay sa iyang pagkasuko, ug daku sa gahum, ug sa bisan unsang paagi dili gayud magisip nga walay sala niadtung mga sad-an : ang dalan ni Jehova anaa sa alimpulos ug anaa sa bagyo, ug ang mga dag-um mao ang abug sa iyang mga tiil.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

slow: Exodus 34:6, Exodus 34:7, Nehemiah 9:17, Psalms 103:8, Psalms 145:8, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2, James 1:19

great: Job 9:4, Psalms 62:11, Psalms 66:3, Psalms 147:5, Ephesians 1:19, Ephesians 1:20

and will: Numbers 14:18, Job 10:14

his way: Exodus 19:16-18, Deuteronomy 5:22-24, 1 Kings 19:11-13, Job 38:1, Psalms 18:7-15, Psalms 50:3, Psalms 97:2-5, Psalms 104:3, Isaiah 19:1, Isaiah 66:15, Daniel 7:13, Habakkuk 3:5-15, Zechariah 9:14, Matthew 26:64, Revelation 1:7

Reciprocal: Exodus 23:7 - for I will not 2 Chronicles 6:1 - The Lord Job 27:21 - a storm Job 35:5 - the clouds Job 36:29 - the noise Job 37:22 - with Psalms 77:19 - way Psalms 144:5 - touch Proverbs 1:27 - as a Isaiah 2:19 - when he Isaiah 27:4 - Fury Isaiah 29:7 - the multitude Jeremiah 4:13 - Behold Jeremiah 23:19 - General Ezekiel 1:4 - a great Ezekiel 13:11 - there shall Zechariah 7:14 - scattered Matthew 27:51 - the earth Romans 12:19 - Vengeance

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The Lord [is] slow to anger,.... He is not in haste to execute it; he takes time for it, and gives men space for repentance. Nineveh had had a proof of this when it repented at the preaching of Jonah, upon which the Lord deferred the execution of his wrath; but lest they should presume upon this, and conclude the Lord would always bear with them, though they had returned to their former impieties; they are let to know, that this his forbearance was not owing to want of power or will in him to punish: since he is

great in power, and will not at all acquit [the wicked]; he is able to execute the wrath he threatens, and will by no means clear the guilty, or let them go free and unpunished; though he moves slowly, as he may seem in the execution of his judgments, yet they shall surely be brought on his enemies, and be fully accomplished:

the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds [are] the dust of his feet; he spoke to Job out of the whirlwind; he descended on Mount Sinai in a storm and tempest; and the clouds are his chariots; in which he rides swiftly; and which, for their appearance and number, are like the dust raised by a multitude of horsemen riding full speed, The wrath of God may be compared to a whirlwind, and a storm, which is sometimes hastily and suddenly executed upon men: respect seems to be had to the armies of the Medes and Chaldeans against the Assyrians; who, as the Babylonians against the Jews, came up as clouds, and their chariots as the whirlwind, Jeremiah 4:13; and the figures beautifully describe the numbers of them, the force with which they came; and in an elegant manner represent the vast quantity of dust raised by an army in full march; at the head of which was the Lord himself, ordering, directing, and succeeding, before whom none can stand.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Lord is slow to anger - Nahum takes up the words of Jonah Jonah 4:2 as he spoke of God’s attributes toward Nineveh, but only to show the opposite side of them. Jonah declares how God is “slow to anger,” giving men time of repentance, and if they do repent, “repenting Him also of the evil;” Nahum, that the long-suffering of God is not “slackness,” that “He is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

And strong in power - Divine long-suffering gees along with Divine power. God can be long-suffering, because He can, whenever He sees good, punish. His long-suffering is a token, not of weakness, but of power. He can allow persons the whole extent of trial, because, when they are past cure, He can end it at once. “God is a righteous judge, strong and patient, and God wraths every day” Psalms 7:11. The wrath comes only at the last, but it is ever present with God. He cannot but be displeased with the sin; and so the Psalmist describes in the manner of men the gradual approximation to its discharge. “If he (the sinner) will not return (from evil or to God), He will whet His sword; He hath trodden His bow and directed it: He hath prepared for him instruments of death; He hath made his arrows burning” Psalms 7:12-13. We see the arrow with unextinguishable fire, ready to be discharged, waiting for the final decision of the wicked, whether he will repent or not, but that still “the Day of the Lord will come” 2 Peter 3:9-10. “He will not at all acquit.”

The words occur originally in the great declaration of God’s attributes of mercy by Moses, as a necessary limitation of them ; they are continued to God’s people, yet with the side of mercy predominant Jeremiah 30:11; Jeremiah 46:28; they are pleaded to Himself Numbers 14:18; they are the sanction of the third commandment Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11. He “will not acquit” of His own will, apart from His justice. So He saith, “I can of Mine own self do nothing” John 5:30, i. e., (in part), not as unjust judges, who “call good evil and evil good,” following their own will, not the merits of the case; but, “as I hear, I judge, and My judgment is just.” He cannot even have mercy and spare unjustly, nor without the lowliness of penitence. Even if it is Jerusalem, over which He wept, or His “companion, His own familiar friend” Psalms 55:14, He, who is no “accepter of persons,” cannot of mere favor forgive the impenitent.

The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm - The vengeance of God comes at last swiftly, vehemently, fearfully, irresistibly. “When they say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them” 1 Thessalonians 5:3, and all creation stands at the command of the Creator against His enemies. “He shall take to Him His jealousy for complete armor, and make the creature His weapon, for the revenge of His enemies” (Wisd. 5:17).

And the clouds are the dust of His feet - Perhaps the imagery is from the light dust raised by an earthly army, of which Nahum’s word is used Ezekiel 26:10. The powers of heaven are arrayed against the might of earth. On earth a little dust, soon to subside; in heaven, the whirlwind and the storm, which sweep away what does not bow before them. The vapors, slight on outward seeming, but formed of countless multitudes of mist-drops, are yet dark and lowering, as they burst, and resistless. “The Feet of God are that power whereby He trampleth upon the ungodly.” So it is said to the Son, “Sit Thou on My Right Hand until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.” Tempests have also, without figure, been used to overthrow God’s enemies (Exodus 14:27; Joshua 10:11; Jdg 5:20; 1 Samuel 2:10; and 1 Samuel 7:10; 2 Samuel 22:15).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Nahum 1:3. The Lord is slow to anger — He exercises much longsuffering towards his enemies, that this may lead them to repentance. And it is because of this longsuffering that vengeance is not speedily executed on every evil work.

Great in power — Able at all times to save or to destroy.

The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm — These are the effects of his power; and when they appear unusual, they may be considered as the immediate effects of his power: and although he be in them to punish and destroy, he is in them to direct their course, to determine their operations, and to defend his followers from being injured by their violence. The pestilential wind which slew one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians did not injure one Israelite. See 2 Kings 19:35.

The clouds are the dust of his feet.] This is spoken in allusion to a chariot and horses going on with extreme rapidity: they are all enveloped in a cloud of dust. So Jehovah is represented as coming through the circuit of the heavens as rapidly as lightning; the clouds surrounding him as the dust does the chariot and horses.