The plot against the Lord will fail. As Nahum 1:6–8 has already said, there is not a single enemy who can stand in the face of the Lord’s judgment—not even Nineveh. The Lord will bring them to a complete end, and once the Lord has dealt with them, they will not rise again (Nahum 1:9). There is no coming back from the Lord’s judgment. History shows this to be true—Assyria ceases to exist as a nation after the invasion that Nahum has seen in his vision.
The end of God’s enemies is described in Nahum 1:10 using three powerful, poetic images. Those who take part in this plotting against the Lord are like entangled thorns, like drunkards as they drink, and like dry stubble. All three of these images speak of God’s judgment. Entangled thorns are useless bushes found in the desert and are easily burned. Drunkenness is a common Old Testament image of God’s judgment. The cup symbolizes God’s judgment against his enemies. They drink the cup of wrath to its dregs (Isaiah 19:14; Isaiah 51:17).1 Dry, useless stubble is easily burned and in the same way the Lord’s judgment will consume Nineveh.
10 For they are like entangled thorns, like drunkards as they drink; they are consumed like stubble fully dried.