The Ethical Obligation to Disrupt: Facing the Bloody City in Nah 3:1–7

In Nah 3:1, the Assyrian capital Nineveh is called “city of bloodshed.” Nineveh is indeed “a bloody city,” filled with the blood of the numerous dead bodies associated with the fall of the city. However, as also in the case of a similar portrayal of the city of Jerusalem in Ezek 22:2, Nineveh is depicted as a female entity, hence suggesting that one may also read these poetic texts as invoking the image of a bleeding, menstruating city with all the connotations of not only ritual impurity but also moral guilt associated with this portrayal of sexual perversion or pollution (cf. Lev 18:19; 20:18). In this regard, it is significant that Nineveh in Nah 3:4 is called “a whore” – a derogatory slur that often is used to denote those who are “other” or foreign. The article will explore the ethical implications of disruption as a reading strategy that is particularly important when reading the prophetic traditions through the lens of gender, postcolonial and queer biblical interpretation.