Verses 11-13 draw the conclusion that Nineveh will be captured just as Thebes had been, and they speak of the uselessness of her defenses.

You also will be drunken, you will be dazed: as in verse 8, Good News Translation uses the name “Nineveh” here as a term of address, to remind the reader who is being spoken to. The word also emphasizes the similarity between the fate of Thebes and the fate of Nineveh. Good News Translation translates two verbal phrases in Hebrew by the single expression “fall into a drunken stupor.” Drunkenness is quite often used in Hebrew as a picture of suffering the effects of God’s anger (compare Psa 60.3; Isa 51.17; Jer 25.15-27; Lam 4.21; Ezek 23.31-34), which is sometimes compared to a cup of wine.

The word translated be dazed in Revised Standard Version is of uncertain meaning. The form in the Hebrew text as it stands usually means “to hide” (compare New International Version “you will go into hiding”), but that does not make very good sense here. Some scholars change one letter to make another word that means “to be faint” and which occurs in similar descriptions in Isaiah 51.20; Ezekiel 31.15. Other scholars think that the word as it stands in the text can also mean “to be faint.” This sense fits the context well and is adopted by Revised Standard Version (be dazed), New American Bible (“faint away”), and New Jerusalem Bible (“be … overcome”). Good News Translation also follows this interpretation but expresses it by the noun “stupor.” Another way of rendering these two clauses is: “Nineveh, you will fall into a stupor from drinking too much intoxicating liquor,” or in languages where one cannot speak about cities drinking, one may say “You Assyrians will fall….” Good News Translation‘s expression “drunken stupor” refers to the condition of a drunk person when he has no more control over himself. Most languages have idioms or picturesque phrases to describe such a condition; for example, “sway (or, stagger) with drunkenness” (see Isa 24.20), or “three sheets to the wind,” an English idiom originally applied to a drunken sailor. Translators should look for a descriptive phrase or idiom in their own language that will fit not only the context of this verse but the level of style as well.

In many languages it may be better to translate the first half of this verse as a simile rather than a metaphor. One can say “Nineveh, you too will feel as though you are drunk and dazed.”

You will seek a refuge from the enemy: just as the people of Thebes had tried in vain to escape from the Assyrians, so the Assyrians in their turn would try to escape. Seek a refuge (Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible) means to look for a place to flee to, where they would be safe. Other translation models for this clause are: “you will look for a place to hide where you will be safe from your enemies” or “you will look for a place where your enemies cannot find you.” In some languages it may be necessary to make it explicit that the search will be unsuccessful. One may, for instance, add “but you will not find such a place.”

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A . A Handbook on the Book of Nahum. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1989. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .