Nahum 3
1 Woe to the city of blood, filled with all manner of lies and violence. Crime shall not depart from you:
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.
2 the voice of the whip, and the voice of the turning wheels, and of the neighing horse, and the burning chariot, and the horsemen who ride,
The noise of the whip, and the noise of thundering wheels; horses rushing and war-carriages jumping,
3 and of the flashing sword and the shining spear, and of a multitude executed and a grievous ruination. Neither is there an end to the dead bodies, and they will fall down upon their dead bodies.
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:
4 Because of the multitude of fornications of the kept woman, beautiful and pleasing and practicing evil deeds, who sold nations by her fornications, and families by her evil doing:
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.
5 behold, I will come to you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will reveal your shame to your face, and I will show your nakedness to the Gentiles, and your disgrace to kingdoms.
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.
6 And I will cast abominations over you, and I will afflict you with abuse, and I will make an example of you.
I will make you completely disgusting and full of shame, and will put you up to be looked at by all.
7 And this shall be: everyone who sees you, will recoil from you, and he will say: “Nineveh has been devastated.” Who will shake his head over you? Where might I seek consolation for you?
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?
8 Are you better than the populous Alexandria, which dwells along the rivers? Waters encircle it: the sea, with its riches. The waters are its walls.
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?
9 Ethiopia and Egypt were its strength, and there is no limit. Africa and Northern Africa have been your helpers.
Ethiopia was her strength and Egyptians without number; Put and Lubim were her helpers.
10 Nevertheless, she has been led away with the transmigration into captivity. Her little ones have been dashed in pieces at the top of every street, and they have cast lots over her celebrities, and all her elite have been fastened together in shackles.
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.
11 Therefore, you also will become inebriated, and you will be despised, and you will seek help from the opposition.
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.
12 All your fortresses will be like fig trees with their green figs. If they are shaken violently, they will fall into the mouth of the one who devours.
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.
13 Behold, women are at the center of your people. The gates of your land will be opened wide for your enemies; fire will devour your bars.
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.
14 Draw in water because of the blockade; build up your fortresses. Go into the clay and tread; work it to make brick.
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.
15 There, fire will devour you. You will perish by the sword; it will devour you like the beetle. Gather together like the beetle. Multiply like the locust.
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.
16 You have made more negotiations than there are stars in the sky. The beetle has spread out and flown away.
Let your traders be increased more than the stars of heaven:
17 Your guardians are like locusts, and your little ones are like locusts among locusts, which alight on hedges on a cold day. The sun rose up, and they flew away, and there was no way to know the place where they had been.
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.
18 Your shepherds have become drowsy, king Assur. Your princes will be buried. Your people have remained hidden in the mountains, and there is no one to gather them.
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.
19 Your destruction is not hidden; your wound is grievous. All who have heard of your fame have clenched their hands over you, because over whom has your wickedness not trampled continually?
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?
