Nahum 3
1 Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.
Alas for the city of bloodshed! All of it, deceit, of violence full, none releaseth prey!
2 The crack of the whip, the rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!
The sound of the whip, and the sound of the rushing wheel, —and horse galloping, and dancing chariot rattling along.
3 Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end— they stumble over their dead—
Horsemen uplifting both the flashing sword, and the lightning spear, Aye, a mass of slain, and a weight of dead bridles, —and no end of corpses, so that they stumble upon 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 unchaste doings of the unchaste one, fair in grace, mistress of secret arts, —who hath been selling nations by her unchaste doings, families by her secret arts,
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 me! against thee, Declareth Yahweh of hosts, Therefore will I remove thy shirts over thy face, —and 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 upon thee abominable filth, and treat thee as foolish, —and set thee as a gazing-stock.
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 who see thee, shall flee from thee, and shall say, Destroyed is Nineveh! Who will bemoan her?—Whence shall I seek any to comfort 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, who sat among the Nile-streams, waters round about her, —whose fortress was the sea, from the sea, her wall.
9 Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were her allies.
Ethiopia, was her strength, and Egypt—Yea, without end, —Put and Lubim, were among 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, she, was given up to exile, she went into captivity, even her babes, were dashed to the ground, at the head of all the streets, —and, for her honourable men, cast they lots, and, all her great men, were bound together in chains.
11 You too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy.
Thou too, shalt be drunken, thou shalt hide thyself, —thou too, shalt seek shelter from the foe:
12 All your fortresses are fig trees with the first ripe figs; when shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater!
All thy fortresses, shall be fig-trees with first-ripe figs: if thy be shaken, then shall [the fruit] fall on 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.
Lo! thy people, are women, in thy midst, to thy foes, have been set wide open the gates of thy and, —a 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!
Siege-water, draw for thyself, strengthen thy fortresses, —go into the clay, and tread thou the mortar, make strong the brick.
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 a fire devour thee, the sword, shall cut thee off, it shall devour thee like the grass locust, make thyself numerous like the grass locust, make thyself numerous as the swarming locust:
16 You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips the land and flies away.
Though thou have multiplied thy foot-soldiers beyond the stars of the heavens, the grass locust, hath stript itself and flown 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 mercenary crowds, are like the swarming locust, and, thy mixed multitudes, like locusts—swarms of locusts, —which settle in the hedges on a cold day, the sun, hath broken forth, and they are in flight, and unknown is the place 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.
Asleep are thy shepherds, O king of Assyria, thy nobles, must needs rest. Scattered are thy people upon the mountains, and there is none to gather 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?
No lessening of thine injury, grievous is thy wound, —all who have heard the report of thee, have clapped their hands over thee, for, upon whom, hath not thy cruelty passed without ceasing?
