< Nahum 3 >

1 Woe to the bloody city. It is all full of lies and robbery. The prey doesn't depart.
Væ civitas sanguinum, universa mendacii dilaceratione plena! non recedet a te rapina.
2 The noise of the whip, the noise of the rattling of wheels, prancing horses, and bounding chariots,
Vox flagelli, et vox impetus rotæ, et equi frementis, et quadrigæ ferventis, et equitis ascendentis,
3 the horseman mounting, and the flashing sword, the glittering spear, and a multitude of slain, and a great heap of corpses, and there is no end of the bodies. They stumble on their bodies,
et micantis gladii, et fulgurantis hastæ, et multitudinis interfectæ, et gravis ruinæ; nec est finis cadaverum, et corruent in corporibus suis.
4 because of the multitude of the prostitution of the alluring prostitute, the mistress of witchcraft, who sells nations through her prostitution, and families through her witchcraft.
Propter multitudinem fornicationum meretricis speciosæ, et gratæ, et habentis maleficia, quæ vendidit gentes in fornicationibus suis, et familias in maleficiis suis.
5 "Look, I am against you," says YHWH of hosts, "and I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms 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 abominable filth on you, and make you vile, and will set you a spectacle.
Et projiciam super te abominationes, et contumeliis te afficiam, et ponam te in exemplum.
7 It will happen that all those who look at you will flee from you, and say, 'Nineveh is laid waste. Who will mourn for her?' Where will I seek comforters for 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 better than No-Amon, who was situated among the rivers, who had the waters around her; whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was of the sea?
Numquid melior es Alexandria populorum, quæ habitat in fluminibus? aquæ in circuitu ejus; cujus divitiæ, mare; aquæ, muri ejus.
9 Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength. Put and Libya were her helpers.
Æthiopia fortitudo ejus, et Ægyptus, et non est finis; Africa et Libyes fuerunt in auxilio tuo.
10 Yet was she carried away. She went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets, and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
Sed et ipsa in transmigrationem ducta est in captivitatem: parvuli ejus elisi sunt in capite omnium viarum, et super inclytos ejus miserunt sortem, et omnes optimates ejus confixi sunt in compedibus.
11 You also will be drunk. You will be hidden. You also will seek a stronghold because of the enemy.
Et tu ergo inebriaberis, et eris despecta: et tu quæres auxilium ab inimico.
12 All your fortresses will be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.
Omnes munitiones tuæ sicut ficus cum grossis suis: si concussæ fuerint, cadent in os comedentis.
13 Look, your troops in your midst are women. The gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies. The fire has devoured your bars.
Ecce populus tuus mulieres in medio tui: inimicis tuis adapertione pandentur portæ terræ tuæ, devorabit ignis vectes tuos.
14 Draw water for the siege. Strengthen your fortresses. Go into the clay, and tread the mortar. Make the brick kiln strong.
Aquam propter obsidionem hauri tibi: exstrue munitiones tuas, intra in lutum, et calca, subigens tene laterem.
15 There the fire will devour you. The sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the grasshopper. Multiply like grasshoppers. Multiply like the locust.
Ibi comedet te ignis, peribis gladio, devorabit te ut bruchus: congregare ut bruchus, multiplicare ut locusta.
16 You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the skies. The grasshopper strips, and flees away.
Plures fecisti negotiationes tuas quam stellæ sint cæli; bruchus expansus est, et avolavit.
17 Your guards are like the locusts, and your officials like the swarms of locusts, which settle on the walls on a cold day, but when the sun appears, they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
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 Your shepherds slumber, king of Assyria. Your nobles lie down. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to gather them.
Dormitaverunt pastores tui, rex Assur, sepelientur principes tui: latitavit populus tuus in montibus, et non est qui congreget.
19 There is no healing your wound, for your injury is fatal. All who hear the report of you clap their hands over you; for who hasn't felt your endless 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?

< Nahum 3 >