Nahum 3:14,15 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Draw thee waters for the siege Fill all thy cisterns, and draw the waters into the ditches. Go into the clay, &c. Set thy brickmakers on work to prepare store of materials for thy fortifications. There shall the fire devour thee After all that thou canst do, the fire of the enemy shall reach even thy inmost works, and their darts shall drive off the defenders of them. The sword shall cut thee off The Hebrew word, which we render here sword, properly signifies any kind of dart; and this seems to be spoken of the fire, and missile weapons which the enemy should throw, in order to burn their inner works, or drive them from off them. It shall eat thee up like the canker-worm The sword of the enemy shall destroy thee, as the canker-worm eats up the fruits of the earth. Or, as some interpret the expression, Thou shalt be devoured as the cankerworm is eaten up; because the Assyrians were wont to eat these kinds of worms, which were a species of locusts, which are still eaten in the eastern countries. Make thyself many as the canker-worm Though thou multiply thine armies like locusts, or caterpillars, yet the enemy shall destroy them.