Nahum 3
1 A curse is on the town of blood; it is full of deceit and violent acts; and there is no end to the taking of life.
Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.
2 The noise of the whip, and the noise of thundering wheels; horses rushing and war-carriages jumping,
The crack of the whip, the rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!
3 Horsemen driving forward, and the shining sword and the bright spear: and a great number of wounded, and masses of dead bodies; they are falling over the bodies of the dead:
Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end— they stumble over their dead—
4 Because of all the false ways of the loose woman, expert in attraction and wise in secret arts, who takes nations in the net of her false ways, and families through her secret arts.
because of the many harlotries of the harlot, the seductive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft.
5 See, I am against you, says the Lord of armies, and I will have your skirts pulled over your face, and let the nations see you unclothed, and the kingdoms your shame.
“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.
6 I will make you completely disgusting and full of shame, and will put you up to be looked at by all.
I will pelt you with filth and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you.
7 And it will come about that all who see you will go in flight from you and say, Nineveh is made waste: who will be weeping for her? where am I to get comforters for her?
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?”
8 Are you better than No-amon, seated on the Nile streams, with waters all round her; whose wall was the sea and her earthwork the waters?
Are you better than Thebes, stationed by the Nile with water around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the water?
9 Ethiopia was her strength and Egyptians without number; Put and Lubim were her helpers.
Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were her allies.
10 But even she has been taken away, she has gone away as a prisoner: even her young children are smashed to bits at the top of all the streets: the fate of her honoured men is put to the decision of chance, and all her great men are put in chains.
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.
11 And you will be overcome with wine, you will become feeble; you will be looking for a safe place from those who are fighting against you.
You too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy.
12 All your walled places will be like fig-trees and your people like the first figs, falling at a shake into the mouth which is open for them.
All your fortresses are fig trees with the first ripe figs; when shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater!
13 See, the people who are in you are women; the doorways of your land are wide open to your attackers: the locks of your doors have been burned away in the fire.
Look at your troops— they are like your women! The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire consumes their bars.
14 Get water for the time when you are shut in, make strong your towns: go into the potter's earth, stamping it down with your feet, make strong the brickworks.
Draw your water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Work the clay and tread the mortar; repair the brick kiln!
15 There the fire will make you waste; you will be cut off by the sword: make yourself as great in number as the worms, as great in number as the locusts.
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!
16 Let your traders be increased more than the stars of heaven:
You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips the land and flies away.
17 Your crowned ones are like the locusts, and your scribes like the clouds of insects which take cover in the walls on a cold day, but when the sun comes up they go in flight, and are seen no longer in their place.
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.
18 Sorrow! how are the keepers of your flock sleeping, O king of Assyria! your strong men are at rest; your people are wandering on the mountains, and there is no one to get them together.
O king of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your officers sleep. Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them.
19 Your pain may not be made better; you are wounded to death: all those hearing the news about you will be waving their hands in joy over you: for who has not undergone the weight of your evil-doing again and again?
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?
