Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.
Nahum's prophecy is chiefly concerned with Nineveh, the wicked capital of Assyria. That prophecy is directed against Nineveh as the bloody city. Nineveh is presented as a type of later cities and of latter-day conditions. The verse belongs to God's prediction of Nineveh's fall and downfall. Its picture of merchants multiplied beyond number, above the stars of heaven, and of the cankerworm spoiling and flying away, is left without separate explanation, standing simply within that announcement of doom. The predicted fall came when Assyria was defeated by the combined power of Media, Egypt, and Babylonia.
Nahum's prophecy is chiefly concerned with Nineveh, the wicked capital of Assyria. That prophecy is directed against Nineveh as the bloody city. Nineveh is presented as a type of later cities and of latter-day conditions. The verse belongs to God's prediction of Nineveh's fall and downfall. Its picture of merchants multiplied beyond number, above the stars of heaven, and of the cankerworm spoiling and flying away, is left without separate explanation, standing simply within that announcement of doom. The predicted fall came when Assyria was defeated by the combined power of Media, Egypt, and Babylonia.