Albert Barnes Commentary Nahum 1:13

"And now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder." — Nahum 1:13 (ASV)

For now will I break his yoke from off thee - God, lest His own should despair, does not put them off altogether to a distant day, but says, now. Historically, the beginning of the fall is the guarantee of the end. By the destruction of Sennacherib, God declared His displeasure against Assyria; the rest was a matter of time only.

Thus, Haman’s wise men say to him, “If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him” (Esther 6:13); as He says in Isaiah, “I will break the Assyrian in My land, and upon My mountains tread him underfoot; then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders” (Isaiah 14:25). “In that He says, not I will loose, or will undo, but I will break, or will burst, He shows that He will free Jerusalem in such a way as to pour out displeasure on the enemy.

The very mode of speaking shows the greatness of His displeasure against those who, when for the secret purpose of His judgments they have power given them against the servants of God, feed themselves on their punishments, and moreover dare to boast against God, as did the Assyrian, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom (Isaiah 10:13).”