Book of Nahum

[4] Some scholars hold that "the book of the vision" was written at the time of the fall of Nineveh,[5] at the hands of the Medes and Babylonians in 612 BC.

[8] The oracles must be dated after the Assyrian destruction of Thebes, Egypt in 663 BC, as this event is mentioned in Nahum 3:8.

His name means "comfort",[9] and he came from the town of Elkosh or Alqosh (Nahum 1:1), which scholars have attempted to identify with several cities, including the modern `Alqush of Assyria and Capernaum of northern Galilee.

The subject of Nahum's prophecy is the approaching complete and final destruction of Nineveh, which was the capital of the great and flourishing Assyrian empire at that time.

Nineveh was destroyed apparently by fire around 625 BC, and the Assyrian empire came to an end, an event which changed the face of Asia.

[13] It had a water aqueduct, palaces and a library with 20,000 clay tablets, including accounts of a creation in Enuma Elish and a flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Nabopolassar of Babylon joined forces with Cyaxares, king of the Medes, and laid siege for three months.

[16] Assyria lasted a few more years after the loss of its fortress, but attempts by Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II to rally the Assyrians failed due to opposition from king Josiah of Judah,[17] and it seemed to be all over by 609 BC.

Davidson notes that there are two parts to the superscription: Nineveh is compared to Thebes,[22] the Egyptian city that Assyria itself had destroyed in 663 BC.

[26][29] There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC, with extant manuscripts including Codex Vaticanus (B;

[30] Some fragments containing parts of this chapter (a revision of the Septuagint) were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, i.e., Naḥal Ḥever (8ḤevXIIgr; 1st century AD).

[26][31] Nahum's prophecy carries a particular warning to the Ninevites of coming events, although he is partly in favor of the destruction.

"[38] God's judgement on Nineveh is "all because of the wanton lust of a harlot, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft.