Nahum 3:18 - Exposition

Thy shepherds. The princes and counsellors, on whom the safety of the state depends. Slumber . Sleep the sleep of death—slain in the war ( Psalms 76:6 ). O King of Assyria. The power and evil of Nineveh personified, not any particular king. Shall dwell in the dust; are lying, or are at rest, in death; Septuagint, ἐκοίμισε τουστας σου , "Put to sleep thy mighty men": Vulgate, sepelientur. Is scattered upon the mountains. Their shepherds being dead, the flock, the herd of common people, is scattered abroad and perishes, because no man gathereth them—there is no one to collect them. "The mountains" referred to are those which shut in Assyria on the north.