The Meaning of Nahum 1:9 Explained

Nahum 1:9

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

YLT: What do we devise against Jehovah? An end He is making, arise not twice doth distress.

Darby: What do ye imagine against Jehovah? He will make a full end: trouble shall not rise up the second time.

ASV: What do ye devise against Jehovah? he will make a full end; affliction shall not rise up the second time.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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

What does Nahum 1:9 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Yahweh will frustrate and destroy all attempts to thwart His will. Even though they may appear to succeed at first, they will not endure. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, had besieged Jerusalem once ( 1 Kings 18), but the Assyrians never did so a second time. Their plan to oppose God"s people was really opposition to Him, and He did not permit it to succeed. Once Nineveh fell, it was never rebuilt. [1]

Context Summary

Nahum 1:1-15 - God's Goodness And Righteous Anger
The native city of Nahum was Elkosh, near the Lake of Galilee. The name Capernaum means literally "the village of Nahum." He lived about 150 years after Jonah, who also had been especially concerned with the sins and doom of Nineveh. Though as a Jew he must have dreaded Nineveh, which had already carried Samaria into captivity and was now menacing Jerusalem, he accounted its fate a grievous burden-"the burden of Nineveh." We must never speak of the doom of the ungodly, save from a broken heart.
Nahum 1:1-8 forms a magnificent preamble combining the goodness and severity of God. His dealings with mankind are wrapped in mystery, but He is good and the stronghold of His saints. In Nahum 1:9-15 we see how mad Assyria was to enter into conflict with Jehovah. The fate of thorns in fiercely burning flame is the emblem of their doom. Compare Nahum 1:14 with Isaiah 37:38. When the hour of anguish is past, let us not forget to pay our vows. [source]

Chapter Summary: Nahum 1

1  The majesty of God in goodness to his people, and severity against his enemies

What do the individual words in Nahum 1:9 mean?

What do you conspire against Yahweh an utter end [of it] He will make not will rise up a second time Affliction
מַה־ תְּחַשְּׁבוּן֙ אֶל־ ؟ יְהוָ֔ה כָּלָ֖ה ה֣וּא עֹשֶׂ֑ה לֹֽא־ תָק֥וּם פַּעֲמַ֖יִם צָרָֽה

תְּחַשְּׁבוּן֙  do  you  conspire 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, second person masculine plural, Paragogic nun
Root: חָשַׁב 
Sense: to think, plan, esteem, calculate, invent, make a judgment, imagine, count.
אֶל־  against 
Parse: Preposition
Root: אֶל  
Sense: to, toward, unto (of motion).
؟ יְהוָ֔ה  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
כָּלָ֖ה  an  utter  end  [of  it] 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: כָּלָה  
Sense: completion, termination, full end, complete destruction, consumption, annihilation.
עֹשֶׂ֑ה  will  make 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine singular
Root: עָשָׂה 
Sense: to do, fashion, accomplish, make.
תָק֥וּם  will  rise  up 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: קוּם 
Sense: to rise, arise, stand, rise up, stand up.
פַּעֲמַ֖יִם  a  second  time 
Parse: Noun, fd
Root: פַּעַם  
Sense: stroke, beat, foot, step, anvil, occurrence.
צָרָֽה  Affliction 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: צָרָה 
Sense: straits, distress, trouble.