which like a deadly bite cannot be rooted out, and may he continue to lament (the loss of) his vigor until his life comes to an end! (ANET 180) All who hear the news of you clap their hands over you; for upon whom has not come your evil unceasingly? The only note of joy in Nineveh’s dirge is that which expresses the gladness of oppressed peoples at her fall. The concluding dyad here is “tacked on” so as to end the book of Nahum with a question—as is also the case in Jonah 4:11 (see Glasson 1969/70: