Nahum 1:3 Explained

"The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet." — Nahum 1:3 (KJV)

The famous description of God's patience, quoted here against the empire that had destroyed the northern kingdom.

Read it in context: The Book of Nahum. Also gathered under verses about anger.

Nahum 1:3 in context

What does Nahum 1:3 mean?

'Slow to anger' is not the same as never angry, and this verse is where Scripture makes that explicit — patience is a length of fuse, not the absence of one. 'Will not at all acquit the wicked' is the clause that gives the patience its weight; mercy that could never become judgment is not mercy but indifference. The storm imagery then puts God inside the weather rather than above it.

What is the context of Nahum 1:3?

Nahum is a single-subject book: the fall of Nineveh. Assyria had been brutal even by ancient standards, and Jonah had already seen it spared once. Nahum reuses the old formula about God being slow to anger and finishes the sentence differently.

How do I pray Nahum 1:3?

Pray it when a wrong has gone unanswered for a long time and you have started reading the delay as permission. The verse holds both halves at once. Then check which half you need — the patient one if you are the offender, the other if you are waiting; most people quote whichever is more comfortable.

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