The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
All Commentaries on Nahum 1:3 Go To Nahum 1
Cyril of Alexandria
AD 444
O city of blood, completely false, full of iniquity. He gave it the name city of blood; those who reigned over Nineveh were bloodthirsty and disposed to murder, while on a different note its inhabitants were warlike, ever on the alert to conduct wild sorties against whomever they met. He says it was false because awash with idols, whose utter falsity could not be gainsaid; its handmade gods, falsely named, stole glory from the Divinity, being only “silver and gold, works of human hands,” as Scripture says. Jeremiah in his wisdom somewhere calls it “a land of statues.” In another way as well, it could be understood to be false, the falsity being taken to refer to knavery, scheming, and deceit that is hated by God, obviously because accompanying iniquity. After all, where there are deceit and scheming, there follows without question iniquitous behavior as well. Now, Jerusalem, killer of the Lord, was also city of blood, completely false, full of iniquity; we recall Christ’s words, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her.” He also said somewhere in the statement of the prophets, “Woe to them, because they have strayed from me. They are in a wretched state for their impious behavior to me. I redeemed them, but they told lies against me.” They impugned the glory of Christ, in fact, once by saying that it was through Beelzebul that he expelled the demons, at another time by calling him a drunkard as well as a Samaritan, and other vile things. In fact, only their slanderous speech would be capable of the things they presumed to say.
