Nahum 3
1 Woe to the city of blood! it is all full of lies and robbery; never ceaseth the preying;
O city of blood, wholly false, full of unrighteousness; the prey shall not be handled.
2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and of prancing horses, and of the skipping chariots.
The noise of whips, and the noise of the rumbling of wheels, and of the pursuing horse, and of the bounding chariot,
3 Horsemen mount, and there are the flaming sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and heaps of carcasses; and without end are the corpses; they stumble on their corpses;
and of the mounting rider, and of the glittering sword, and of the gleaming arms, and of a multitude of slain, and of heavy falling: and there was no end to her nations, but they shall be weak in their bodies
4 Because of the multitude of the lewd deeds of the harlot, that is rich in gracefulness, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her lewd deeds, and families through her witchcrafts.
because of the abundance of fornication: [she is] a fair harlot, and well-favoured, skilled in sorcery, that sells the nations by her fornication, and peoples by her sorceries.
5 Behold, I will be against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will lay thy skirts open over thy face, and I will let nations see thy nakedness, and kingdoms thy shame.
Behold, I am against you, says the Lord God Almighty, and I will uncover your skirts in your presence, and I will show the nations your shame, and the kingdoms your disgrace.
6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and defile thee, and will render thee a dirt-heap.
And I will cast abominable filth upon you according to your unclean ways, and will make you a public example.
7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that see thee shall flee from thee, and say, Laid waste is Nineveh: who will condole with her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
And it shall be [that] every one that sees you shall go down from you, and shall say, Wretched Nineve! who shall lament for her? whence shall I seek comfort for her?
8 Art thou better than No-amon, that was situated on the rivers, that had water round about her, the rampart of which was the sea, and the walls of which rose out of the sea?
Prepare you a portion, tune the chord, prepare a portion for Ammon: she that dwells among the rivers, water is round about her, whose dominion is the sea, and whose walls are water.
9 Ethiopia the numerous, and Egypt that was without end, Put and Lubim were thy helpers.
And Ethiopia is her strength, and Egypt; and there was no limit of the flight [of her enemies]; and the Libyans became her helpers.
10 Yet also she was exiled, was carried away into captivity; also her young children were dashed in pieces at the corners of all streets: and for her honorable men they cast lots, and all her great ones were bound with chains.
Yet she shall go as a prisoner into captivity, and they shall dash her infants against the ground at the top of all her ways: and they shall cast lots upon all her glorious [possessions], and all her nobles shall be bound in chains.
11 Thou also shalt be made drunken, thou shalt be hidden from view: thou also shalt seek refuge because of the enemy.
And you shall be drunken, and shall be overlooked; and you shall seek for yourself strength because of [your] enemies.
12 All thy strong-holds shall be like fig-trees with the first ripe figs, which, if they be shaken, will fall into the mouth of the eater.
All your strongholds are as fig-trees having watchers: if they be shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Behold, thy people are become women in the midst of thee: unto thy enemies are the gates of thy land set wide open; the fire hath devoured thy bars.
Behold, your people within you are as women: the gates of your land shall surely be opened to your enemies: the fire shall devour your bars.
14 Water for the siege draw for thyself, fortify thy strongholds: go into the clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick-kiln.
Draw you water for a siege, and well secure your strongholds: enter into the clay, and be you trodden in the chaff, make [the fortifications] stronger than brick.
15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall devour thee up like the cankerworm: [though] thou make thyself many as the cankerworm; make thyself many as the locusts.
There the fire shall devour you; the sword shall utterly destroy you, it shall devour you as the locust, and you shall be pressed down as a palmerworm.
16 [Though] thou hadst multiplied thy merchants more than the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spreadeth itself out, and flieth away.
You have multiplied your merchandise beyond the stars of heaven: the palmerworm has attacked [it], and has flown away.
17 Thy crowned ones are like the locusts, and thy leaders like the swarms of locusts, which camp in the hedges on a cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
Your mixed [multitude] has suddenly departed as the grasshopper, as the locust perched on a hedge in a frosty day; the sun arises, and it flies off, and knows not its place: woe to them!
18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy valiant men are at rest: scattered are thy people upon the mountains, and there is none that gathereth them.
Your shepherds have slumbered, the Assyrian king has laid low your mighty men: your people departed to the mountains, and there was none to receive [them].
19 There is no healing for thy breach; fatal is thy wound: all that hear the report of thee will clap their hands over thee; for over whom did not thy wickedness pass continually?
There is no healing for your bruise; your wound has rankled: all that hear the report of you shall clap their hands against you; for upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?
