Albert Barnes Commentary Nahum 3:14

"Draw thee water for the siege; strengthen thy fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar; make strong the brickkiln." — Nahum 3:14 (ASV)

Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strongholds - This is not mere mockery at man’s weakness, when they would resist God. It foretells that they will toil, and heavily. Toil is added to toil. Nineveh underwent a two-year siege. Water stands for all provisions within. He bids them, as before (Nahum 2:1), strengthen what was already strong; strongholds, which seemed to cut off all approach. He bids them strengthen these, not only repairing decays but making them exceedingly strong (2 Chronicles 11:12). Go into clay.

We seem to see all the inhabitants, like ants on their nest, all poured out, everyone busy, everyone making preparation for the defense. Why had there been no need of it? What need did she have of towers and fortifications, whose armies were carrying war into distant lands, before whom all that was near was hushed? Now, all had to be renewed. As Isaiah, in his mockery of the idol-makers, begins with the forging of the axe, the planting and rearing of the trees, which were eventually to become the idol (Isaiah 44:12 and following), Nahum goes back to the beginning. The neglected brick-kiln, useless in their prosperity, was to be repaired; the clay, which abounded in the valley of the Tigris, was to be collected, mixed, and kneaded by treading, as is still represented in the Egyptian monuments.

The conquering nation was to do the work of slaves, as Asiatic captives are represented, under their taskmasters, on the monuments of Egypt, a prelude to their future. Xenophon still saw the massive brick wall on the stone foundation.

Yet, though stored within and fenced without, it will not stand .