What Does Nahum 3:6 Mean in the King James?

And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.

Nahum 3:6 · KJV

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 verse ends by making disgrace visible: “gazingstock” pictures the addressee as a sight set before observers.

THE MEANING

This is public humiliation: contempt is cast onto the addressee, who is made into a sight for others. The verse holds the violence in view; the exposed one is given no privacy or protection here.

THE ROOT

שִׁקֻּצִים

shiqqutsim

GROWS FROM

שׁקץ

To regard or treat as detestable; a detestable thing.

“abominable filth” in this verse is shiqqutsim. The Hebrew names what is cast as detestable things, bringing the language of abhorrence directly into the act. Contempt is not merely felt from a distance; it is thrown onto the addressee.

ALSO GROWS

detestable thing: An abhorrent or forbidden thing.

שִׁקּוּץ

This singular form shows the same language of detestation carried by the things cast upon the addressee.

shaqats: To treat something as abhorrent.

שָׁקַץ

The related verb makes clear that the image carries a judgment of revulsion, not just a description of dirt.

וְנִבַּלְתִּיךְ

wenibbaltiḵ

GROWS FROM

נבל

To become foolish or degraded; related forms also name disgraceful conduct.

“vile” in this verse is wenibbaltiḵ. The Hebrew verb carries the sense of degradation and disgrace, not just a fixed label of repulsiveness. The next image makes that lowering public: the disgraced one becomes a sight for others.

ALSO GROWS

fool: A morally senseless or dishonorable person.

נָבָל

This related noun shows the root’s association with a loss of standing and judgment.

disgraceful deed: A shameful or foolish act.

נְבָלָה

The shared root links being made vile with the language of public dishonor.

כְּרֹאִי

kəro'î

GROWS FROM

ראה

To see or look.

The Hebrew phrase presents the addressee as a sight to behold. The English “gazingstock” carries the ridicule, while the Hebrew image places being looked at at the center of the sentence.

ALSO GROWS

see: To see or perceive.

רָאָה

This is the root behind the image of the addressee as something seen.

mar'eh: An appearance or thing seen.

מַרְאֶה

This related noun shows how the seeing-root can name what is presented to the eye.

THE PATTERN

A spectacle turns what is exposed into a public sight before witnesses.

Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.

Nahum 3:5 · KJVThe preceding verse makes exposure before the nations explicit, leading into the public spectacle named here.

Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.

Isaiah 47:3 · KJVShame becomes something uncovered and seen, making public exposure part of the sentence.

For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

1 Corinthians 4:9 · KJVThe apostles are also made visible before many witnesses, though the verse gives their spectacle a different moral force.

THE THREAD

I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.

Psalm 22:17 · KJV

Nahum ends with a target made into a sight; the psalm describes watchers staring at the exposed sufferer. The Hebrew seeing-root ⁨ראה⁩ (ra’ah, “see”) connects the spectacle to the gaze itself.

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