Nahum 3 · Verse 16

Nahum 3:16

Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.

Nahum 3:16, King James Version

Nahum 3:16 in other translations

BSB	You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips the land and flies away.
WEB	You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the skies. The grasshopper strips and flees away.
ASV	Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm ravageth, and fleeth away.
YLT	Multiply thy merchants above the stars of the heavens, The cankerworm hath stripped off, and doth flee away.
DARBY	Thou hast multiplied thy merchants more than the stars of the heavens; the cankerworm spreadeth himself out and flieth away.
BBE	Let your traders be increased more than the stars of heaven:
Webster	Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm spoileth, and flieth away.

What does Nahum 3:16 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

16. multiplied thy merchants--(Eze 27:23, 24). Nineveh, by large canals, had easy access to Babylon; and it was one of the great routes for the people of the west and northwest to that city; lying on the Tigris it had access to the sea. The Phoenicians carried its wares everywhere. Hence its merchandise is so much spoken of. the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away--that is, spoiled thy merchants. The "cankerworm," or licking locust, answers to the Medo-Babylonian invaders of Nineveh [G. V. Smith]. Calvin explains less probably, "Thy merchants spoiled many regions; but the same shall befall them as befalls locusts, they in a moment shall be scattered and flee away." Maurer, somewhat similarly, "The licking locust puts off (the envelope in which his wings had been folded), and teeth away" (Na 2:9; compare Joe 1:4). The Hebrew has ten different names for the locust, so destructive was it.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants - Like Tyre, this city was a famous resort for merchants; but the multitudes which were there previously to the siege, like the locusts, took the alarm, and fled away.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Nahum 3:8-19

Strong-holds, even the strongest, are no defence against the judgments of God. They shall be unable to do any thing for themselves. The Chaldeans and Medes would devour the land like canker-worms. The Assyrians also would be eaten up by their own numerous hired troops, which seem to be meant by the word rendered "merchants." Those that have done evil to their neighbours, will find it come home to them. Nineveh, and…

Read the full comment on Nahum 3:8-19 →

Nahum 3:16 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.

הִרְבֵּית֙hir.Beityou have increasedH7235

רֹֽכְלַ֔יִךְro.khe.La.yikhtraders yourH7402

מִכּוֹכְבֵ֖יmi.kokh.Veimore than [the] stars ofH3556

הַשָּׁמָ֑יִםha.sha.Ma.yimthe heavensH8064

יֶ֥לֶקYe.leka locustH3218

פָּשַׁ֖טpa.Shatit strips offH6584

וַיָּעֹֽף\׃vai.ya.'Ofand it flew awayH5774

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

Cross references for Nahum 3:16

Genesis 15:5
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
Genesis 22:17
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
Jeremiah 33:22
As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.
Nehemiah 9:23
Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

above.
Ge 15:5; 22:17; Ne 9:23; Jer 33:22
spoileth. or, spreadeth himself.

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

Context

Nahum 3:15
There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.
Nahum 3:16
Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.
Nahum 3:17
Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.

Read all of Nahum 3

Nahum 3:16 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Multiplicaste tus mercaderes más que las estrellas del cielo: el pulgón hizo presa, y voló.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Tu as augmenté le nombre de tes marchands plus que les étoiles des cieux; l’yélek se répand, puis s’envole.
German Elberfelder 1871	Du hast deiner Kaufleute mehr gemacht als die Sterne des Himmels: der Jelek fällt raubend ein und fliegt davon.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Plures fecisti negotiationes tuas quam stellæ sint cæli; bruchus expansus est, et avolavit.