Nahum

"Comforter." The seventh of the so-called minor prophets, an Elkoshite.¹ All that is known of him is recorded in the book of his prophesies. He was from the town of Alqosh, and after the deportation of the ten tribes took up his residence in Jerusalem.

His book is the thirty-fourth of the Old Testament and was probably written in Jerusalem. The book relates to the fall of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, which he describes as a "bloody city all full of lies and robbery."² His prophecy is the impending destruction of Nineveh. Jonah had already uttered his message of warning, and Nahum was followed by Zephaniah, who also predicted³ the destruction of the city, predictions which were fulfilled (612 BCE) when Nineveh was destroyed by a coalition of Babylonians, Medes, Chaldeans, and others, and the Assyrian empire came to an end.

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