Nahum 3:8
Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?
No, called No Amon and populous No, is ancient Thebes in Upper Egypt at the site of modern Luxor and Karnak, a famous city known from biblical history, with the marginal reading making the Luxor connection explicit. It was situate among the channels of the Nile with the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea and whose wall was from the sea, so that water formed its defense. Its use of sea for its rampart and wall reflects the Hebrew use of sea for the Nile, which was also commonly called the sea in Egypt. The annual Nile inundation illustrates that protection, when the land resembled a great lake and towns and cities appeared as islands.
Its strength lay also in its allies and helpers, Egypt, Ethiopia, Put, and Lubim. Despite that power and its surrounding waters and strong defenses, it was carried away captive and destroyed, so Nineveh's might could not save Nineveh either. The conqueror who captured Thebes was the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal.
The verse belongs to the prophecy predicting the fall of Nineveh, and the fall of Assyria's capital fulfilled God's prediction of Assyria's destruction. Its ruins testify to the truth of the prophecy and to God's judgment against No and its temples dedicated to sun worship. Assyria's cruelty and eventual ruin prove that kingdoms founded on fraud, force, and cruelty fall before God's kingdom of truth and righteousness.