Nahum 3
1 Alas for the city of bloodshed! All of it, deceit, of violence full, none releaseth prey!
O city of blood, wholly false, full of unrighteousness; the prey shall not be handled.
2 The sound of the whip, and the sound of the rushing wheel, —and horse galloping, and dancing chariot rattling along.
The noise of whips, and the noise of the rumbling of wheels, and of the pursuing horse, and of the bounding chariot,
3 Horsemen uplifting both the flashing sword, and the lightning spear, Aye, a mass of slain, and a weight of dead bridles, —and no end of corpses, so that they stumble upon 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 unchaste doings of the unchaste one, fair in grace, mistress of secret arts, —who hath been selling nations by her unchaste doings, families by her secret arts,
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 me! against thee, Declareth Yahweh of hosts, Therefore will I remove thy shirts over thy face, —and let, nations, see thy nakedness, and, kingdoms, thy shame;
Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord God Almighty, and I will uncover thy skirts in thy presence, and I will shew the nations thy shame, and the kingdoms thy disgrace.
6 And I will cast upon thee abominable filth, and treat thee as foolish, —and set thee as a gazing-stock.
And I will cast abominable filth upon thee according to thine unclean ways, and will make thee a public example.
7 And it shall come to pass that, all who see thee, shall flee from thee, and shall say, Destroyed is Nineveh! Who will bemoan her?—Whence shall I seek any to comfort thee?
And it shall be [that] every one that sees thee shall go down from thee, and shall say, Wretched Nineve! who shall lament for her? whence shall I seek comfort for her?
8 Art thou better than No-amon, who sat among the Nile-streams, waters round about her, —whose fortress was the sea, from the sea, her wall.
Prepare thee 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, was her strength, and Egypt—Yea, without end, —Put and Lubim, were among 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, she, was given up to exile, she went into captivity, even her babes, were dashed to the ground, at the head of all the streets, —and, for her honourable men, cast they lots, and, all her great men, were bound together in 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 too, shalt be drunken, thou shalt hide thyself, —thou too, shalt seek shelter from the foe:
And thou shalt be drunken, and shalt be overlooked; and thou shalt seek for thyself strength because of [thine] enemies.
12 All thy fortresses, shall be fig-trees with first-ripe figs: if thy be shaken, then shall [the fruit] fall on the mouth of the eater.
All thy strong-holds are as fig-trees having watchers: if they be shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Lo! thy people, are women, in thy midst, to thy foes, have been set wide open the gates of thy and, —a fire, hath devoured, thy bars.
Behold, thy people within thee are as women: the gates of thy land shall surely be opened to thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.
14 Siege-water, draw for thyself, strengthen thy fortresses, —go into the clay, and tread thou the mortar, make strong the brick.
Draw thee water for a siege, and well secure thy strong-holds: enter into the clay, and be thou trodden in the chaff, make [the fortifications] stronger than brick.
15 There, shall a fire devour thee, the sword, shall cut thee off, it shall devour thee like the grass locust, make thyself numerous like the grass locust, make thyself numerous as the swarming locust:
There the fire shall devour thee; the sword shall utterly destroy thee, it shall devour thee as the locust, and thou shalt be pressed down as a palmerworm.
16 Though thou have multiplied thy foot-soldiers beyond the stars of the heavens, the grass locust, hath stript itself and flown away!
Thou hast multiplied thy merchandise beyond the stars of heaven: the palmerworm has attacked [it], and has flown away.
17 Thy mercenary crowds, are like the swarming locust, and, thy mixed multitudes, like locusts—swarms of locusts, —which settle in the hedges on a cold day, the sun, hath broken forth, and they are in flight, and unknown is the place where they are!
Thy 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 Asleep are thy shepherds, O king of Assyria, thy nobles, must needs rest. Scattered are thy people upon the mountains, and there is none to gather them.
Thy shepherds have slumbered, the Assyrian king has laid low thy mighty men: thy people departed to the mountains, and there was none to receive [them].
19 No lessening of thine injury, grievous is thy wound, —all who have heard the report of thee, have clapped their hands over thee, for, upon whom, hath not thy cruelty passed without ceasing?
There is no healing for thy bruise; thy wound has rankled: all that hear the report of thee shall clap their hands against thee; for upon whom has not thy wickedness passed continually?
