Nahum 3
1 Woe to the city of blood, filled with all manner of lies and violence. Crime shall not depart from you:
Woe to the bloody city! Full of lies and plunder, without end is the spoil.
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,
Hear the crack of the whip, hear the rattle of wheels. Galloping horses, jolting chariots.
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 charging, swords flashing, spears glittering, a multitude of slain, a heap of bodies, no end to the corpses over which people stumble!
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 you acted like a whore, bewitching the nations, enticing the peoples,
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.
I am against you, Nineveh’ the Lord of hosts declares. ‘I will strip your clothes and show the nations your nakedness, 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 fling loathsome filth at you, and make you an object of contempt, a spectacle,
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?
so that everyone who sees you will flee from you and say: “Nineveh is laid waste, who will mourn 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 any better than Thebes, which stood on the banks of the Nile, with waters around as a rampart, whose wall was the sea of waters?
9 Ethiopia and Egypt were its strength, and there is no limit. Africa and Northern Africa have been your helpers.
Her strength was Ethiopia and Egypt. The Libyans were her helpers, and Put with its countless people.
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.
Yet she was exiled and made captive. On all corners of the streets her infants were dashed to pieces. Lots were cast for her nobles, all her great ones were bound in chains.
11 Therefore, you also will become inebriated, and you will be despised, and you will seek help from the opposition.
‘You too, Nineveh, will be drunk with fear; you too will seek a place of escape from the foe.
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 fortresses are fig trees with the first ripe figs; if shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater!
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.
Your troops are weak as women before your foes; the gates of your land are wide open; your defenses burned down.
14 Draw in water because of the blockade; build up your fortresses. Go into the clay and tread; work it to make brick.
‘Draw water for the siege, strengthen your forts. Go to the clay pits and tread the clay; take up the brick moulds.
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 consume you, the sword will cut you down. Multiply like the locust or a swarm of grasshoppers.
16 You have made more negotiations than there are stars in the sky. The beetle has spread out and flown away.
Increase the numbers of your merchants until they are 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.
until your watchmen are locusts, and your scribes like grasshoppers, which swarm in the hedges on a cold day; but when the sun rises they fly away, no one knows where.
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.
‘King of Assyria: your princes slumber, your nobles sleep! Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them!
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?
There is no healing for your hurt, your wound is incurable. All who hear of your fate clap their hands in joy, for who has escaped your limitless cruelty?’
