Nahum 1 · Verse 10

Nahum 1:10

For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
Nahum 1:10, King James Version

Nahum 1:10 in other translations

BSBFor they will be entangled as with thorns and consumed like the drink of a drunkard— like stubble that is fully dry.
WEBFor entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble.
ASVFor entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly as dry stubble.
YLTFor while princes are perplexed, And with their drink are drunken, They have been consumed as stubble fully dried.
DARBYThough they be tangled together as thorns, and be as drenched from their drink, they shall be devoured as dry stubble, completely.
BBEFor though they are like twisted thorns, and are overcome as with drink, they will come to destruction like stems of grass fully dry.
WebsterFor while they are folded together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.

What does Nahum 1:10 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
10. while they are folden together as thorns--literally, "to the same degree as thorns" (compare 1Ch 4:27, Margin). As thorns, so folded together and entangled that they cannot be loosed asunder without trouble, are thrown by the husbandmen all in a mass into the fire, so the Assyrians shall all be given together to destruction. Compare 2Sa 23:6, 7, where also "thorns" are the image of the wicked. As this image represents the speediness of their destruction in a mass, so that of "drunkards," their rushing as it were of their own accord into it; for drunkards fall down without any one pushing them [Kimchi]. Calvin explains, Although ye be dangerous to touch as thorns (that is, full of rage and violence), yet the Lord can easily consume you. But "although" will hardly apply to the next clause. English Version and Kimchi, therefore, are to be preferred. The comparison to drunkards is appropriate. For drunkards, though exulting and bold, are weak and easily thrown down by even a finger touching them. So the insolent self-confidence of the Assyrians shall precipitate their overthrow by God. The Hebrew is "soaked," or "drunken as with their own wine." Their drunken revelries are perhaps alluded to, during which the foe (according to Diodorus Siculus [2]) broke into their city, and Sardanapalus burned his palace; though the main and ultimate destruction of Nineveh referred to by Nahum was long subsequent to that under Sardanapalus.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 10 While they be folden together - However united their counsels may be, they shall be as drunken men - perplexed and unsteady in all their resolutions; and before God's judgments they shall be as dry thorns before a devouring fire.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Nahum 1:9-15

There is a great deal plotted against the Lord by the gates of hell, and against his kingdom in the world; but it will prove in vain. With some sinners God makes quick despatch; and one way or other, he will make an utter end of all his enemies. Though they are quiet, and many very secure, and not in fear, they shall be cut down as grass and corn, when the destroying angel passes through. God would hereby work great…

Read the full comment on Nahum 1:9-15 →

Nahum 1:10 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

כִּ֚יkiforH3588
עַד\־'ad-toH5704
סִירִ֣יםsi.RimthornsH5518
סְבֻכִ֔יםse.vu.KhiminterwovenH5440
וּכְסָבְאָ֖םu.khe.sa.ve.'Amand like drink theirH5435
סְבוּאִ֑יםse.vu.'ImdrunkardsH5433
אֻ֨כְּל֔וּ'u.ke.Luthey will be consumedH398
כְּקַ֥שׁke.Kashlike stubbleH7179
יָבֵ֖שׁya.VeshdryH3002
מָלֵֽא\׃ma.Le'fullH4392

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Nahum 1:10

  • Micah 7:4

    The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.

  • Isaiah 5:24

    Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

  • Nahum 3:11

    Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.

  • Malachi 4:1

    For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

  • Jeremiah 51:57

    And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

  • Isaiah 9:18

    For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.

  • 2 Samuel 23:6-7

    But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands: But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.

  • Jeremiah 51:39

    In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord.

  • Isaiah 27:4

    Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.

  • 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3

    For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

  • Isaiah 10:17-19

    And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth. And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.

  • Psalms 68:2

    As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
while they be.
2Sa 23:6,7; Mic 7:4; 1Th 5:2,3
drunken.
3:11; 1Sa 25:36; 2Sa 13:28; Jer 51:39,57
they shall.
Ps 68:2; Isa 9:18; 10:17-19; 27:4; Mal 4:1

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Nahum 1:9

    What do ye imagine against the Lord? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.

  • Nahum 1:10

    For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.

  • Nahum 1:11

    There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord, a wicked counsellor.

Read all of Nahum 1

Nahum 1:10 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Porque como espinas entretegidas, mientras se embriagarán los borrachos, serán consumidos como las estopas llenas de sequedad.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Quand même ils sont comme des ronces entrelacées, et comme ivres de leur vin, ils seront dévorés comme du chaume sec, entièrement.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Denn wären sie gar wie Dornen verflochten und von ihrem edlen Weine berauscht, sie sollen völlig verzehrt werden wie dürre Stoppeln.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		quia sicut spinæ se invicem complectuntur, sic convivium eorum pariter potantium; consumentur quasi stipula ariditate plena.