Nahum 3
1 Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.
Woe to the city of blood! it is all full of lies and robbery; never ceaseth the preying;
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 wheels, and of prancing horses, and of the skipping chariots.
3 Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end— they stumble over their dead—
Horsemen mount, and there are the flaming sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and heaps of carcasses; and without end are the 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 lewd deeds of the harlot, that is rich in gracefulness, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her lewd deeds, 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 will be against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will lay thy skirts open over thy face, and I will let nations see thy nakedness, and kingdoms thy 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 upon thee, and defile thee, and will render thee a dirt-heap.
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 see thee shall flee from thee, and say, Laid waste is Nineveh: who will condole with her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
8 Are you better than Thebes, stationed by the Nile with water around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the water?
Art thou better than No-amon, that was situated on the rivers, that had water round about her, the rampart of which was the sea, and the walls of which rose out of the sea?
9 Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were her allies.
Ethiopia the numerous, and Egypt that was without end, Put and Lubim were thy 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 also she was exiled, was carried away into captivity; also her young children were dashed in pieces at the corners of all streets: and for her honorable men they cast lots, and all her great ones were bound with chains.
11 You too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy.
Thou also shalt be made drunken, thou shalt be hidden from view: thou also shalt seek refuge 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 thy strong-holds shall be like fig-trees with the first ripe figs, which, if they be shaken, will 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, thy people are become women in the midst of thee: unto thy enemies are the gates of thy land set wide open; the fire hath devoured thy bars.
14 Draw your water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Work the clay and tread the mortar; repair the brick kiln!
Water for the siege draw for thyself, fortify thy strongholds: go into the 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 thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall devour thee up like the cankerworm: [though] thou make thyself many as the cankerworm; make thyself 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.
[Though] thou hadst multiplied thy merchants more than the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spreadeth itself out, and flieth 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.
Thy crowned ones are like the locusts, and thy leaders like the swarms of locusts, which camp in the hedges on a cold day, but when the sun ariseth 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.
Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy valiant men are at rest: scattered are thy people upon the mountains, and there is none that gathereth 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 for thy breach; fatal is thy wound: all that hear the report of thee will clap their hands over thee; for over whom did not thy wickedness pass continually?
