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, She is all full with lies [and] burglary, Prey does not depart.
2 The noise of the whip, and the noise of thundering wheels; horses rushing and war-carriages jumping,
The sound of a whip, And the sound of the rattling of a wheel, And of a prancing horse, and of a bounding chariot, Of a horseman mounting.
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:
And the flame of a sword, and the lightning of a spear, And the abundance of the wounded, And the weight of carcasses, Indeed, there is no end to the bodies, They stumble over their bodies.
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 abundance of the fornications of a harlot, The goodness of the grace of the lady of witchcrafts, Who is selling nations by her fornications, And families by 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 you,” A declaration of YHWH of Hosts, “And have removed your skirts before your face, And have showed nations your nakedness, And kingdoms your 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 have cast on you abominations, And dishonored you, and made you as a sight.
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 has come to pass, Each of your beholders flees from you, And has said: Nineveh is spoiled, Who bemoans for her? From where do I seek 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 No-Ammon, That is dwelling among brooks? Waters she has around her, Whose bulwark [is] the sea, waters her wall.
9 Ethiopia was her strength and Egyptians without number; Put and Lubim were her helpers.
Cush her might, and Egypt, and there is no end. Put and Lubim have been for your help.
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.
Even she becomes an exile, She has gone into captivity, Even her sucklings are dashed to pieces At the top of all out-places, And for her honored ones they cast a lot, And all her great ones have been 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.
Even you are drunken, you are hidden, Even you seek a strong place, because of an 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 first-fruits, If they are shaken, They have fallen 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, your people [are] women in your midst, To your enemies thoroughly opened Have been the gates of your land, Fire has consumed your 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.
Waters of a siege draw for yourself, Strengthen your fortresses, Enter into mire, and tread on clay, Make strong a 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 a fire consumes you, A sword cuts you off, It consumes you as a cankerworm! Make yourself heavy as the cankerworm, Make yourself heavy as the locust.
16 Let your traders be increased more than the stars of heaven:
Multiply your merchants above the stars of the heavens, The cankerworm has stripped off, and flees 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 crowned ones [are] as a locust, And your princes as great grasshoppers, That encamp in hedges in a day of cold, The sun has risen, and it flees away, And its place where they are is not known.
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.
Your friends have slumbered, king of Asshur, Your majestic ones rest, Your people have been scattered on the mountains, And there is none gathering.
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 weakening of your destruction, Your striking [is] grievous, All hearing your fame have clapped the hand at you, For over whom did your wickedness not pass continually?
