Nahum 1:11
“There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →From Nineveh came one who plotted evil against the Lord, a counselor whose advice was wickedness itself.
What Does Nahum 1:11 Mean?
The oracle narrows from the city to a single figure who came out of her, one who plots evil against the Lord and counsels wickedness. Readers of Israel's history would think of Assyrian commanders who taunted Jerusalem and blasphemed the living God, urging surrender and mocking trust in Him. To scheme against God's people was, in the end, to scheme against God. This counselor embodies the spirit of the whole empire: cunning turned toward harm.
Scripture often shows that great evil gathers around particular voices, advisers who give darkness a strategy. It is a reminder that counsel is never neutral; words can build up or tear down, heal or destroy. Against every such voice stands the Lord, who is called Wonderful Counsellor, whose plans are for peace and not for harm. The plotting of the wicked counselor is real, but it is not sovereign. The next verse will answer it directly with the steady, decisive word of God, whose counsel alone stands forever.
In the Original Language
ya'ats (יָעַץ), "counsellor" — one who advises or devises a plan; here the planning is bent toward evil against God.