What Does Nahum 1:3 Mean in the King James?
The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “way” comes from a root meaning “to tread,” so the storm is the track the LORD’s feet make.
THE MEANING
You encounter patience that does not erase accountability: the LORD is slow to flare, yet does not clear the guilty. His way runs through the whirlwind and storm, with clouds pictured as dust beneath his feet. His power appears both in restraint and in movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a long delay means guilt has been cleared.
THE ROOT
דַּרְכּוֹ
darko
GROWS FROM
דרך
d-r-k
Tread, step, or make a path by walking.
The word for “way” grows from the action of treading. Nahum immediately pictures clouds as dust beneath the LORD’s feet, making the storm-path feel like the trace of his steps.
ALSO GROWS
darak: To tread or step.
דָּרַךְ
This verb makes the root’s physical sense visible in the LORD’s path through the storm.
midrakh: A footstep or place of treading.
מִדְרָךְ
This branch echoes the verse’s image of clouds as dust beneath the LORD’s feet.
אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם
ʾerekh ʾappayim
GROWS FROM
ארך
ʾ-r-kh
Be long or extend.
“slow to anger” in this verse is ʾerekh ʾappayim. The Hebrew phrase is literally “long of nostrils”: anger is pictured in the face’s flare, held back over time. That long delay sits beside the refusal to clear guilt, so patience is not absolution.
ALSO GROWS
ʾorekh: Length or a long span.
אֹרֶךְ
It shows that the phrase describes anger whose arrival is extended in time.
heʾerikh: To lengthen or prolong.
הֶאֱרִיךְ
This branch makes the idea of delay active: the flare is prolonged, not absent.
וְנַקֵּה לֹא יְנַקֶּה
wə-naqqēh lō yənaqqeh
GROWS FROM
נקה
n-q-h
Be clean, clear, or free of guilt.
“acquit” in this verse is wə-naqqēh lō yənaqqeh. The Hebrew repeats the same root in a form often rendered “not at all”: literally, “clearing, he will not clear.” Acquittal is pictured as being cleared clean, and the verse says guilt is not simply washed away.
ALSO GROWS
nāqî: Clear or innocent.
נָקִי
This branch shows the state of being free from guilt that the verse refuses to declare without cause.
nāqāh: To be clean, cleared, or acquitted.
נָקָה
This is the root behind “acquit,” presenting judgment as a question of whether guilt has truly been cleared.
THE PATTERN
A long delay in judgment is patience, not proof that guilt has been cleared.
The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?THE THREAD
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.Psalm 103 uses the same Hebrew phrase, אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם (ʾerekh ʾappayim), “long of nostrils.” It places that long restraint beside mercy; Nahum holds the same patience together with the refusal to clear guilt and the storm-path beneath the LORD’s feet.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us