The Kurdish Prophet Nahum and His Attitude Towards Nineveh

Abstract

Naḥūm was a Kurdish Jewish prophet who lived in northern Syria in the period of the Assyrian conquests and internecine wars over 2,500 years ago. Part of Naḥūm’s long poem, which is in the Kurdish-Persian genre Shāḥnāma has since been included in the canonized Hebrew Bible. The first chapter of the Book of Naḥūm, henceforth Section I is a song of praise (panegyric) introducing the main protagonist – in this case HaShem. Section II and Section III of Naḥūm’s Book carry on with narrative still in the genre Kurdish Shāḥnāma. However, instead of an ensuing lengthy tale, Section III winds up with a few lines of “conclusion,” written by another hand.

Keywords

• Book of Nahum
• biblical prophet
• Kurdish prophet
• Kurdish Shahnama
• Assyrian conquests
• fall of Nineveh

References

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