Bishop Augustinos primarily directs his interpretation of the prophecy's opening: "God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; the Lord avenges with wrath; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he cuts off his enemies. The Lord is long-suffering, and his power is great, and the Lord will not hold any guiltless: his way is in destruction and in the whirlwind, and the clouds are the dust of his feet." (Nahum 1:2-3, Brenton LXX) God is identified as "jealous" and "avenging", but ultimately "forbearing" of man's sins. This contrast of two seemingly contradictory attributes of God ultimately reveals of God's mercy, as he not only delivered the Ninevites from their prophesied destruction by Jonah through their repentance but ultimately executed justice when His commands were departed from by the city and they chose not to heed the call to repentance of the prophet Nahum. Nahum describes God's "frightening granduer", as Bishop Augustinos describes it, and even the mightiest and wealthiest cities are humbled by God when they depart from His commandments.

==Sources==

*Holy Apostles Convent. (2002). The Holy Prophet Naum. In ''The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church'' (pp. 1-10).