Catholic Commentary on Nahum 1

“The LORD is slow to anger but great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished.” (Nahum 1:3)

The Book of Nahum

Nahum of Elkosh prophesied the fall of Nineveh, probably between the fall of Thebes in 663 BC (mentioned in 3:8) and the fall of Nineveh itself in 612 BC. He is the sequel to Jonah: where Jonah proclaimed Nineveh's potential destruction and the city repented, Nahum proclaims the actual destruction of a Nineveh that has returned to its violence. The book is a sustained poem of fierce intensity - a literary masterpiece of divine judgment.

The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD is slow to anger but great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet. The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? But the LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.

The Catechism identifies the divine attributes in Nahum 1 - jealous, avenging, slow to anger, great in power, good, a refuge - as the fullest Old Testament portrait of the God who is simultaneously the judge of the wicked and the shelter of the trusting (CCC 212).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, the LORD is slow to anger but great in power. Slow to anger is not unable to anger. The patience is real; the power is also real. Nineveh had already experienced the patience once, in Jonah's day. They exhausted it. The patience of God is the gift of the interval between sin and consequence. Do not mistake the patience for indifference or the slowness for weakness.

Prayer

Lord God, slow to anger but great in power, be our refuge in times of trouble. We trust in you. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Nahum
1
The Burden against Nineveh
(Jonah 1:1-3)
1 This is the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:
 
2 The LORD is a jealous and avenging God;
the LORD is avenging and full of wrath.
The LORD takes vengeance on His foes
and reserves wrath for His enemies.
3 The LORD is slow to anger
and great in power;
the LORD will by no means
leave the guilty unpunished.
His path is in the whirlwind and storm,
and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.
4 He rebukes the sea and dries it up;
He makes all the rivers run dry.
Bashan and Carmel wither,
and the flower of Lebanon wilts.
5 The mountains quake before Him,
and the hills melt away;
the earth trembles at His presence-
the world and all its dwellers.
6 Who can withstand His indignation?
Who can endure His burning anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire;
even rocks are shattered before Him.
 
7 The LORD is good,
a stronghold in the day of distress;
He cares for those who trust in Him.
8 But with an overwhelming flood
He will make an end of Nineveh * 1:8 Literally of her place
and pursue His enemies into darkness.
 
9 Whatever you plot against the LORD,
He will bring to an end.
Affliction will not rise up
a second time.
10 For they will be entangled as with thorns
and consumed like the drink of a drunkard-
like stubble that is fully dry.
11 From you, O Nineveh, comes forth
a plotter of evil against the LORD,
a counselor of wickedness.
 
12 This is what the LORD says:
 
“Though they are allied and numerous,
yet they will be cut down and pass away.
Though I have afflicted you, O Judah,
I will afflict you no longer.
13 For I will now break their yoke from your neck
and tear away your shackles.”
14 The LORD has issued a command concerning you, O Nineveh:
 
“There will be no descendants
to carry on your name.
I will cut off the carved image and cast idol
from the house of your gods;
I will prepare your grave,
for you are contemptible.”
 
15 Look to the mountains-
the feet of one who brings good news,
who proclaims peace!
Celebrate your feasts, O Judah;
fulfill your vows.
For the wicked will never again march through you;
they will be utterly cut off.

*1:8 1:8 Literally of her place

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