Nahum 3
1 What a disaster is coming upon this murderous city with all its treachery! It is full of wealth it has robbed, and always has plenty of victims.
Væ civitas sanguinum, universa mendacii dilaceratione plena: non recedet a te rapina.
2 Listen to the noise: whips crack, wheels clatter, horses gallop, chariots rattle!
Vox flagelli, et vox impetus rotæ, et equi frementis, et quadrigæ ferventis, et equitis ascendentis:
3 Horsemen charge, swords flash, spears glitter! Many dead, piles of corpses, countless bodies—so many that people stumble over them.
et micantis gladii, et fulgurantis hastæ, et multitudinis interfectæ, et gravis ruinæ: nec est finis cadaverum, et corruent in corporibus suis.
4 All this happens because the repeated prostitution of Nineveh the prostitute, the beautiful mistress with her deadly charms who seduces nations into slavery by her prostitution and her witchcraft.
Propter multitudinem fornicationum meretricis speciosæ, et gratæ, et habentis maleficia, quæ vendidit gentes in fornicationibus suis, et familias in maleficiis suis:
5 Watch out! For I am against you, declares the Lord Almighty. I will lift your skirts over your face and let the nations see your nakedness, and kingdoms see your shame.
Ecce ego ad te, dicit Dominus exercituum, et revelabo pudenda tua in facie tua, et ostendam Gentibus nuditatem tuam, et regnis ignominiam tuam.
6 I will throw filth at you. I will treat you with contempt, and make a spectacle of you.
Et proiiciam super te abominationes, et contumeliis te afficiam, et ponam te in exemplum.
7 Then everyone who sees you will shun you saying, “Nineveh is ruined! But who is going to mourn your loss?” Where should I look to find anyone to comfort you?
Et erit: omnis, qui viderit te, resiliet a te, et dicet: Vastata est Ninive: quis commovebit super te caput? unde quæram consolatorem tibi?
8 Are you any better than the city of Thebes on the River Nile, surrounded by water? Water was its defense, water was its wall.
Numquid melior es Alexandria populorum, quæ habitat in fluminibus? aquæ in circuti eius: cuius divitiæ, mare: aquæ muri eius.
9 The city ruled Egypt and Ethiopia. Put and Libya were its allies.
Æthiopia fortitudo eius, et Ægyptus, et non est finis: Africa, et Libyes fuerunt in auxilio tuo.
10 Yet its people were also taken away into exile, into captivity. Their babies were dashed to pieces in every street. Their nobles were bound in chains and taken away as servants, chosen by lot.
Sed et ipsa in transmigrationem ducta est in captivitatem: parvuli eius elisi sunt in capite omnium viarum, et super inclytos eius miserunt sortem, et omnes optimates eius confixi sunt in compedibus.
11 You too will behave like a drunk. You will hide in fear, trying to find a place safe from the enemy.
Et tu ergo inebriaberis, et eris despecta: et tu quæres auxilium ab inimico.
12 All your fortresses are like fig trees ripe with fruit—they fall when they are shaken into the mouth of the one eating.
Omnes munitiones tuæ sicut ficus cum grossis suis: si concussæ fuerint, cadent in os comedentis.
13 Look! Your soldiers are women among you. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; the bars of the gates will be set on fire.
Ecce populus tuus mulieres in medio tui: inimicis tuis adapertione pandentur portæ terræ tuæ, devorabit ignis vectes tuos.
14 Store water to prepare for a siege! Strengthen your fortresses! Go to the clay pits to tread it well, mix the cement, get your brick molds ready!
Aquam propter obsidionem hauri tibi, extrue munitiones tuas: intra in lutum, et calca, subigens tene laterem.
15 But even so, there the fire will consume you, you will be cut down by the sword. You will be destroyed as if you were devoured by a swarm of locusts. So multiply yourselves like locusts, like a swarm of locusts.
Ibi comedet te ignis: peribis gladio, devorabit te ut bruchus: congregare ut bruchus: multiplicare ut locusta.
16 You increased your merchants so that there are more of them than the stars of heaven. But like locusts they strip everything and then fly away.
Plures fecisti negotiationes tuas quam stellæ sint cæli: bruchus expansus est, et avolavit.
17 Your leaders are like locusts, your officials like a swarm of locusts. They rest on walls on a cold day, but when the sun rises they fly away, and no one knows where they've gone.
Custodes tui quasi locustæ: et parvuli tui quasi locustæ locustarum, quæ considunt in sepibus in die frigoris: sol ortus est, et avolaverunt, et non est cognitus locus earum ubi fuerint.
18 King of Assyria, your shepherds are asleep, your princes are slumbering. Your people are scattered across the mountains and no one can gather them.
Dormitaverunt pastores tui, rex Assur: sepelientur principes tui: latitavit populus tuus in montibus, et non est qui congreget.
19 There is no way to heal your injuries, you are too badly wounded. Everyone who hears this news will applaud what has happened to you, for was there anyone who escaped your continuous cruelty?
Non est obscura contritio tua, pessima est plaga tua: omnes qui audierunt auditionem tuam, compresserunt manum super te: quia super quem non transiit malitia tua semper?
