Nahum 3

1 Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.

Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departs not;

2 The crack of the whip, the rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!

The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots.

3 Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end— they stumble over their dead—

The horseman lifts up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble on their corpses:

4 because of the many harlotries of the harlot, the seductive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft.

Because of the multitude of the prostitutions of the well favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that sells nations through her prostitutions, and families through her witchcrafts.

5 “Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.

Behold, I am against you, says the LORD of hosts; and I will discover your skirts on your face, and I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.

6 I will pelt you with filth and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you.

And I will cast abominable filth on you, and make you vile, and will set you as a spectacle.

7 Then all who see you will recoil from you and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated; who will grieve for her?’ Where can I find comforters for you?”

And it shall come to pass, that all they that look on you shall flee from you, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? from where shall I seek comforters for you?

8 Are you better than Thebes, stationed by the Nile with water around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the water?

Are you better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?

9 Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were her allies.

Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were your helpers.

10 Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains.

Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.

11 You too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy.

You also shall be drunken: you shall be hid, you also shall seek strength because of the enemy.

12 All your fortresses are fig trees with the first ripe figs; when shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater!

All your strong holds shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.

13 Look at your troops— they are like your women! The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire consumes their bars.

Behold, your people in the middle of you are women: the gates of your land shall be set wide open to your enemies: the fire shall devour your bars.

14 Draw your water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Work the clay and tread the mortar; repair the brick kiln!

Draw you waters for the siege, fortify your strong holds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick kiln.

15 There the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you down and consume you like a young locust. Make yourself many like the young locust; make yourself many like the swarming locust!

There shall the fire devour you; the sword shall cut you off, it shall eat you up like the cankerworm: make yourself many as the cankerworm, make yourself many as the locusts.

16 You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips the land and flies away.

You have multiplied your merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoils, and flees away.

17 Your guards are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts that settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows where.

Your crowned are as the locusts, and your captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun rises they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.

18 O king of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your officers sleep. Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them.

Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: your nobles shall dwell in the dust: your people is scattered on the mountains, and no man gathers them.

19 There is no healing for your injury; your wound is severe. All who hear the news of you applaud your downfall, for who has not experienced your constant cruelty?

There is no healing of your bruise; your wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of you shall clap the hands over you: for on whom has not your wickedness passed continually?