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 bloody city! It is all full of lies and rapine; the prey departeth not.
2 The noise of the whip, and the noise of thundering wheels; horses rushing and war-carriages jumping,
Hark! the whip, and hark! the rattling of the wheels; and prancing horses, and bounding chariots;
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:
The horseman charging, and the flashing sword, and the glittering spear; and a multitude of slain, and a heap of carcases; and there is no end of the corpses, and they stumble upon their corpses;
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 multitude of the harlotries of the well-favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her harlotries, and families through her witchcrafts.
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 thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
6 I will make you completely disgusting and full of shame, and will put you up to be looked at by all.
And I will cast detestable things upon thee, and make thee vile, and will make thee as dung.
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?
And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say: 'Nineveh is laid waste; who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?'
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?
Art thou better than No-amon, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about her; whose rampart was the sea, and of the sea her wall?
9 Ethiopia was her strength and Egyptians without number; Put and Lubim were her helpers.
Ethiopia and Egypt were thy strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.
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 was she carried away, she went into captivity; her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men 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.
Thou also shalt be drunken, thou shalt swoon; thou also shalt seek a refuge because of 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 thy fortresses shall be like fig-trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be 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.
Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women; the gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies; the fire hath devoured thy 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 thee water for the siege, strengthen thy fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar, lay hold of the brickmould.
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 shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall devour thee like the canker-worm; make thyself many as the canker-worm, make thyself many as the locusts.
16 Let your traders be increased more than the stars of heaven:
Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven; the canker-worm spreadeth itself, and flieth 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.
Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers, which camp in the walls in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
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.
Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria, thy worthies are at rest; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and there is none 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 assuaging of thy hurt, thy wound is grievous; all that hear the report of thee clap the hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
