Nahum 3:19 - Exposition

There is no healing of thy bruise; there is no assuaging of thy hurt (Revised Version; Jeremiah 10:19 ). The ruin is irretrievable; no one shall restore the destroyed kingdom (see Zephaniah 2:13 , Zephaniah 2:14 ). Thy wound is grievous; Pessima est plaga tua (Vulgate); ἐφλέγμανεν ἡ πληγή σου , "Thy wound is inflamed." The "wound" is the stroke or plague inflicted by God (Le 26:21). Shall clap the hands over thee. All who hear of thy destruction will rejoice over it ( Psalms 47:1 ; Lamentations 2:15 ). Thy wickedness. The cruelty and oppression of Nineveh have been universally felt. If Edom is the type of insidious foes of the Church's own household, Nineveh is the emblem of open, blaspheming infidelity, arrayed in powerful opposition against God's people. In the overthrow of this kingdom there is a prophecy of the destruction of all anti-Christian powers, which shall be utterly crushed in the latter days.