Nahum 3:16
“Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Though Nineveh's merchants outnumber the stars, they strip what they can and fly off like locusts when danger comes.
What Does Nahum 3:16 Mean?
Nineveh had merchants as countless as the stars of heaven, traders who made the city a hub of the world's wealth. But the prophet likens them to the cankerworm, the locust, which strips a place bare and then flies away. When the day of trouble comes, these merchants will not stand by the city; they will grab what they can and vanish, leaving Nineveh stripped and abandoned. Her commercial glory, vast as it was, offers no loyalty and no protection.
The image exposes the fickleness of wealth and the people drawn to it. The merchants enriched themselves from Nineveh and will desert her the moment she falls, just as locusts move on once a field is consumed. Riches gathered and the crowds they attract make a poor foundation, for they flee at the first sign of ruin. Scripture often warns that those who trust in wealth find it sprouts wings and flies away. The verse quietly commends a different treasure, the kind that does not abandon us in trouble, found in the God who never leaves nor forsakes His own.