Nahum 1:12

Yahweh declared that even though the Assyrians were powerful and numerous, He would cut them off and they would pass off the stage of history. This must have been hard for many Israelites to believe since the Assyrians had been their dreaded enemy for centuries. Even though the Lord had afflicted the Israelites, He would afflict them no longer. Evidently He meant that He would not afflict them with the Assyrians any longer since other nations did afflict them after Assyria passed off the scene. This is the only place in the prophecy where, "Thus says the LORD," occurs, guaranteeing that what He said would definitely happen. This verse is the clearest indication that Nahum ministered before the decline of Assyria as a military and political state. [Note: Longman, "Nahum," p. 798.]

"In the context the expression ’quiet, and likewise many,’ [AV; ’at full strength, and likewise many’ NASB; ’unscathed and numerous’ NIV] although a literal translation of the Hebrew, does not seem to make much sense. Actually the Hebrew here represents a transliteration of a long-forgotten Assyrian legal formula. Excavation in the ruins of ancient Nineveh, buried since 612 B.C., has brought to light thousands of ancient Assyrian tablets, dozens of which contain this Assyrian legal formula. It proves, on investigation, to indicate joint and several responsibility for carrying out an obligation. Nahum quotes the LORD as using this Assyrian formula in speaking to the Assyrians, saying in effect, ’Even though your entire nation joins as one person to resist me, nevertheless I shall overcome you.’ As the words would have been equally incomprehensible to the later Hebrew copyists, their retention is striking evidence of the care of the scribes in copying exactly what they found in the manuscripts, and testifies to God’s providential preservation of the Biblical text." [Note: The New Scofield Reference Bible, pp. 950-51.]