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?"

"There is no assuaging of thy hurt ..." is sometimes rendered "no healing of thy bruise." The finality and permanence of the destruction of Nineveh appears repeatedly through the prophecy. Note the following:

I will make thy grave, for thou art vile (Nahum 1:14).

The wicked one shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off (Nahum 1:15).

She is carried away (Nahum 2:7).

She is empty, and void, and waste (Nahum 2:10).

Where is the den of lions? (Nahum 2:11).

The voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard (Nahum 2:13).

I will set thee as a gazing-stock (Nahum 3:6).

Nineveh is laid waste (Nahum 3:7).

Thou shalt be hid (Nahum 3:11).

Fire shall devour thee (Nahum 3:15).

The sword shall cut thee off (Nahum 3:15).

Their place is not known where they are (Nahum 3:17).

There is no assuaging of thy hurt (Nahum 3:19).

"So exactly was all this fulfilled, that for ages the very site of Nineveh was lost, until in the 19th century, A.D., Layard and Robinson made excavations and discoveries that brought to light the ruins of a metropolis so vast that none could longer doubt the declarations of Jonah and Nahum in regard to its splendor and magnificence."[39]

"The striking fulfillment of Nahum's prophecy in the disappearance of Nineveh from the face of the earth is a seal upon the abiding truth of his message. Here is no mere piece of antiquity, but a confirmed Word of God."[40]

"The reader should keep in mind the perspective of the book. Nineveh is no ordinary city ... nor is Assyria just another degenerating civilization. They stand for the ultimate supernatural evil that frustrates and suppresses the purposes and people of God. Their defeat is a sign of the victory of God and the basis of hope that his power and justice will ultimately conquer all evil."[41]

"In the overthrow of this kingdom, there is a prophecy of the destruction of all anti-Christian powers."[42]

We have cited these quotations as examples of the vivid and startling impression this prophecy makes upon one who reads and studies it. One who understands Nahum knows that supernatural prophecy is a fact and that we have here an incontrovertible example of it.

Commentators, ancient and modern alike, have, at the end of their studies of Nahum, paused to contemplate the eternal power and majesty of God. We cite one other example:

What probability was there that the capital city of a great kingdom, a city sixty miles in compass, a city with so vast a population, a city with walls a hundred feet high, and so thick that three chariots could drive abreast upon them, and which had fifteen hundred towers, of two hundred feet in height ... what probability was there that such a city should ever be totally destroyed?[43]

And not merely destroyed, but lost and hidden from all the peoples of the earth for over two thousand years! We cannot leave this without observing that the author of this prophecy spoke the true Word of God, and that such a fact is obvious. Fiddling around with the date of the prophecy and attempting to make it a pretended oracle after the events prophesied had already occurred are absolutely frustrated by the addition of Nahum 3:19, "There is no assuaging of thy hurt." This most singular and overwhelming aspect of the whole prophecy was a prophetic Word of God and could not have been otherwise, no matter what date might be assigned to Nahum's life and writing. This is also the pledge and seal that all of the prophecy is bona fide, a true revelation of future events, by the prophetic inspiration of the prophet through the power of God.