Intertextuality Pair

Nahum 1:2-3 → Deuteronomy 5:9

Allusion

Later text

Nahum 1:2-3BSB

The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and full of wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on His foes and reserves wrath for His enemies. The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. His path is in the whirlwind and storm, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.

Earlier text

Deuteronomy 5:9BSB

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Significance

Nahum 1:2-3 combines the divine attributes of jealousy, vengeance, and slowness to anger in a concentrated allusion to the Decalogue's self-revelation. The description of God as אֵל קַנּוֹא (El qanno, "jealous God") recalls Deuteronomy 5:9 where this jealousy is tied to the prohibition of idol worship and the visiting of iniquity across generations. Nahum extends this by adding that the LORD is "slow to anger and great in power" yet "will by no means leave the guilty unpunished," combining the mercy and justice strands of God's character. The oracle against Nineveh shows that God's patient restraint does not equal indifference—Assyria's long impunity was divine forbearance, not divine approval, and that forbearance has now reached its limit.

Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Allusion
Connection Method(s)
Longitudinal Theme

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