Nahum

About Nahum

Nahum's book announces judgment on Nineveh and offers refuge in God to people facing distress.

Almost nothing secure survives about Nahum's personal life. Charles Souvay's account in the Catholic Encyclopedia distinguishes the prophet from the competing traditions about Elkosh, the place associated with his name. Proposals locate it in Mesopotamia, Galilee or southern Judah; none supplies a secure birthplace or burial site.

The Jewish Encyclopedia treats a connection with Judah as a scholarly inference from the prophet's concern for its suffering under Assyrian rule. This inference does not establish his parentage, occupation or the places where he lived.

The Orthodox Church in America places his activity in the seventh century BCE. Its account also transmits an age at death and a native burial tradition, but also acknowledges how little is known about his life. Christian worship remembers him as a prophet on December 1, rather than preserving a continuous account of his career.

Prayers for Nahum