NAHUM, BOOK OF

Under the preaching of Jonah, the wicked city of Nineveh had repented (Jon. 3:10; Mt. 12:40-41), and God had suspended the punishment of which he had warned those people. Eventually, though, they slipped back into their godless ways (3:1), and the time came when they would see their "full end," i.e., total destruction (1:8-9). God used Nahum to warn the Assyrians of their impending doom. The prophet vividly describes their catalog of sins and proclaims, on behalf of God: "I am against you!" Nineveh was destroyed in 612 B.C. So complete was the destruction that the city was "hid" (3:11) until the ruins were discovered finally in 1843.