Discovery BoxNahum 3:13-14 
Context3:13 Your warriors will be like women in your midst;
the gates of your land will be wide open 1 to your enemies;
fire will consume 2 the bars of your gates. 3
3:14 Draw yourselves water for a siege! 4
Strengthen your fortifications!
Trample the mud 5 and tread the clay!
Make mud bricks to strengthen your walls! 6
1 tn Or “have been opened wide.” The Niphal perfect נִפְתְּחוּ (niftÿkhu) from פָּתַח (patach, “to open”) may designate a past-time action (“have been opened wide”) or a present-time circumstance (“are wide open”). The present-time sense is preferred in vv. 13-14. When used in reference to present-time circumstances, the perfect tense represents a situation occurring at the very instant the expression is being uttered; this is the so-called “instantaneous perfect” (IBHS 488-89 §30.5.1). The root פָּתַח (“to open”) is repeated for emphasis to depict the helpless state of the Assyrian defenses: פָּתוֹחַ נִפְתְּחוּ (patoakh niftÿkhu, “wide open”).
2 tn Or “has consumed.” The Qal perfect אָכְלָה (’okhlah) from אָכַל (’akhal, “to consume”) refers either to a past-time action (“has consumed”) or a present-time action (“consumes”). The context suggests the present-time sense is preferable here. This is an example of the “instantaneous perfect” which represents a situation occurring at the very instant the expression is being uttered (see IBHS 488-89 §30.5.1).
3 tn Heb “your bars.”
4 tn Heb “waters of siege.”
5 tn Heb “go into the mud.”
6 tn Heb “Take hold of the mud-brick mold!”
