3:1 Woe to the bloody city! it [is] all full of lies [and]
robbery; a the prey departeth not;
(a) It never ceases to spoil and rob.
3:2 The noise of a whip, b and the noise of the rattling of
the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping
chariots.
(b) He shows how the Chaldeans will hasten, and how
courageous their horses will be in beating the ground
when they come against the Assyrians.
3:4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the
wellfavoured c harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that
selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through
her witchcrafts.
(c) He compares Nineveh to a harlot, who by her beauty and
subtilty entices young men, and brings them to
destruction.
3:8 Art thou better than populous d No, that was situate among
the rivers, [that had] the waters round about it, whose
rampart [was] the sea, [and] her wall [was] from the sea?
(d) Meaning Alexandria, which had a compact of peace with so
many nations, and yet was now destroyed.
3:15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee
off, it shall eat thee up like the e cankerworm: make
thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the
locusts.
(c) Signifying that God's judgments would suddenly destroy
the Assyrians, as these vermin do with rain or change
of weather.
3:18 Thy f shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles
shall dwell [in the dust]: thy people is scattered upon the
mountains, and no man gathereth [them].
(f) Your princes and counsellors.
3:19 [There is] no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous:
all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over
thee: for upon g whom hath not thy wickedness passed
continually?
(g) Meaning that the Assyrians had done hurt to all people.
