Some translations prefer to set apart extended quotations, prayers and songs. The ULB and many other English translations set the lines of the entire book (except for verse 1 of chapter 1) farher to the right on the page than regular text because they are poetic prophecy. (See: [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/prophet]])
Despite being divided into three chapters, this book contains one long prophecy.
#### Special concepts in this chapter ####
##### Complete destruction #####
At that time, Assyria controlled almost the entire Near East. Nahum prophesied that the Assyrians would be so completely destroyed as a nation that they would no longer even be a people group. This prophecy came true and did so very suddenly. At times, this chapter is very violent in describing the destruction of Assyria, and this violence should not be toned down through the use of euphemism.