Charles Ellicott Commentary Nahum 3:15-16

"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. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm ravageth, and fleeth away." — Nahum 3:15-16 (ASV)

The shift in metaphor here is somewhat jarring to modern sensibilities. The sword, like the locust, will devour Nineveh. Yet Nineveh is immediately afterward compared to the locust in its numbers, destructive influence, and sudden disappearance.

This is a transition like St. Paul’s “going off at a word.” The comparison to the locust suggests the idea that Nineveh herself has been a locust-pest to the world, and the direction of the metaphor is then suddenly changed.

A paraphrase will best bring out the meaning. (Verse 15) “Hostile swords devour you, as a locust swarm devours. Vainly your dense population clusters together, itself another locust-swarm. (Verse 16) Indeed, your merchants, as numerous as the stars of heaven, have been like a pest of locusts which plunders one day and is gone the next.”