Changes

==Language==

==Language==

The book was written entirely in [[Hebrew]]. Due to its lyrical construction, many commentators have described it as a [[psalm]]. The first section is an "acrostic", or alphabetical, poem, each line beginning with successive letters of the [[Hebrew alphabet]]. Although this does not continue throughout the whole of the book, scholars have concluded that this was due one of three factors, or a combination thereof:

The book was written entirely in [[Hebrew]]. Due to its lyrical construction, many commentators have described it as a [[psalm]]. The first chapter is a probable "acrostic", or alphabetical, poem, each line beginning with successive letters of the [[Hebrew alphabet]]. Although this does not continue throughout the whole of the chapter, scholars have concluded that this was due one of three factors, or a combination thereof:

*the writer abandoned halfway his undertaking to write acrostically

*the writer abandoned halfway his undertaking to write acrostically

*the parts were worked out separately from an unacrostic original

*the parts were worked out separately from an unacrostic original

*the upper margin was first used, and then the side margin, causing the text to become "overcrowded and blurred, this later on causing in the second part of the psalm an inextricable confusion from which the first was preserved"<ref>Souvay, Charles. [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10670a.htm "Nahum"] The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. Retrieved 28 July 2008.</ref>  

*the upper margin was first used, and then the side margin, causing the text to become "overcrowded and blurred, this later on causing in the second part of the psalm an inextricable confusion from which the first was preserved"<ref>Souvay, Charles. [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10670a.htm "Nahum"] The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. Retrieved 28 July 2008.</ref>

Some Jewish scholars have observed that "the prophecy reads quite as if some one had tampered with its original order. It may be that this apparent mixture is due to modern logical literary strictures. But the following order, which seems to follow modern methods of thought, may be suggested: (1) ch. i. 1-14; (2) ch. iii. 1-17; (3) ch. ii. 1-5, 13, 6-12; (4) ch. iii. 18, 19; i. 15."<ref>Hirsch, Emil G., Price, Ira Maurice ''Book of Nahum'' (1901) The [[Jewish Encyclopedia]].</ref>

Some Jewish scholars have observed that "the prophecy reads quite as if some one had tampered with its original order. It may be that this apparent mixture is due to modern logical literary strictures. But the following order, which seems to follow modern methods of thought, may be suggested: (1) ch. i. 1-14; (2) ch. iii. 1-17; (3) ch. ii. 1-5, 13, 6-12; (4) ch. iii. 18, 19; i. 15."<ref>Hirsch, Emil G., Price, Ira Maurice ''Book of Nahum'' (1901) The [[Jewish Encyclopedia]].</ref>