John Gill Commentary Nahum 3:19

"There is no assuaging of thy hurt: thy wound is grievous: all that hear the report of thee clap their hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?" — Nahum 3:19 (ASV)

[There is] no healing of your bruise Made by the fatal blow given to the empire by the taking of Nineveh; the ruin of it was irreparable and irrecoverable; the city of Nineveh was no more, and the Assyrian empire sunk, and never rose again: or, "there is no contraction of your bruise" ^F18 ; as when a wound is healed, or near it, the skin round about is wrinkled and contracted. The Targum is, "there is none that grieves at your breach;" so the Syriac version; so far from it, that they rejoiced at it, as in a following clause:

your wound is grievous to be borne; the pain of it intolerable; an old obstinate one, inveterate and incurable: or, is "weak", or "sickly" {s}; which had brought a sickness and weakness on the state, out of which it would never be recovered:

all that hear the bruit of you the fame, the report of the destruction of Nineveh, and of the ruin of the Assyrian empire, and the king of it: shall clap the hands over you for joy; so far were they from lending a helping hand in the time of distress, that they clapped both hands together, to express the gladness of their hearts at hearing such news: for upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually ? to which of your neighbours have you not been troublesome and injurious? which of them have you not oppressed, and used with violence and cruelty? what province or city but have felt the weight of your hand, have been harassed with wars, and distressed with tributes and exactions? and therefore it is no wonder they rejoice at your fall.

The destruction of this city, and so of the whole empire, is placed by Dr. Prideaux in the twenty ninth year of Josiah's reign, and in the year 612 B.C.; and by what Josephus says ^F20 it appears to have been but a little while before Josiah was slain by Pharaohnecho, who came out with an army to Euphrates, to make war upon the Medes and Babylonians; who, he says, had overturned the Assyrian empire; being jealous, as it seems, of their growing power.

Learned men justly regret the loss of the Assyriaca of Abydenus, and of the history of the Assyrians by Herodotus, who promised ^F21 it; but whether he finished it or no is not certain; however, it is not extant; and in one place, speaking of the Medes attacking Nineveh, and taking it, he says ^F23 , but how they took it I shall show in another history; all which, had they come to light, and been continued, might have been of singular use in explaining this prophecy.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F18: (hhk Nya) "nulla est contractio", Junius & Tremellius, Burkius.
• F20: Antiqu. l. 10. c. 5. sect. 1.
• F21: L. 1. sive Clio, c. 184.
• F23: Ibid. c. 106.