Nahum 3
1 Terrible things will happen to [Nineveh], that city [that is full of people who] murder [MTY] and lie. [The city is] full of things that were seized [from other countries by their soldiers]; [their armies] continually [LIT] have acted brutally towards people whom they conquered.
O city of blood, wholly false, full of unrighteousness; the prey shall not be handled.
2 But [now listen to the enemy soldiers coming to attack Nineveh]; [listen to them] cracking their whips, and [listen to the] rattle of [their chariot] wheels! [Listen to] their galloping horses and their chariots as they bounce along!
The noise of whips, and the noise of the rumbling of wheels, and of the pursuing horse, and of the bounding chariot,
3 [Look at their] flashing swords and glittering spears as the horsemen race forward! Many [people of Nineveh will be] killed; [there will be] piles of corpses, [with the result that] people will stumble over them.
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 All [that will happen] because [Nineveh is like] [MET] a beautiful prostitute [who lures men to where they will be ruined]; [Nineveh is a beautiful city] which has attracted/enticed [people of] other nations [to come there]. [The people of Nineveh] taught those people [of other nations rituals of] magic, and caused them to become their slaves.
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 [So] the Commander of the armies of angels says to [the people of Nineveh]: “I am your enemy, and I will [cause the people in other] nations to see you [completely] humiliated like [MET] [women who have committed adultery are humiliated by] having their skirts lifted high, [with the result that] people can see their naked [bodies].
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 I will cause rubbish/garbage to be thrown at you; I will show [others] that I despise you very much, and I will cause you to be publicly ridiculed.
And I will cast abominable filth upon you according to your unclean ways, and will make you a public example.
7 All those who see you will turn their backs to you and say, ‘Nineveh is ruined, but absolutely no one [RHQ] will mourn for it.’ No one will regret Nineveh being destroyed!”
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 Your city is certainly [RHQ] no safer than Thebes [city] was. [Thebes was an important city] beside the Nile [River]; the river was [like] [SIM] a wall that protected the city [DOU].
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 [The rulers of] Ethiopia and Egypt helped Thebes; there was no limit to their power. [The governments of the nearby countries of] Put and Libya were also allies of Thebes.
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 But Thebes was captured, and [its people were] (exiled/forced to go to other countries). Their babies were dashed to pieces in the streets [of the city]. [Enemy soldiers] (cast lots/threw small marked stones) to decide who would get each official in Thebes [to become his slave]. All the leaders of Thebes were fastened/tied by 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 You [people of Nineveh] will similarly become dazed and drunk, and you will search for places to hide [to escape] from your enemies.
And you shall be drunken, and shall be overlooked; and you shall seek for yourself strength because of [your] enemies.
12 [Your enemies will cause] the walls around your city to fall down like [SIM] the first figs that fall from fig trees [each year]. [Your city will be captured easily, like] [MET] [figs that fall] into the mouths [HYP] of those who shake the fig trees.
All your strongholds are as fig-trees having watchers: if they be shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Look at your soldiers! They will be [as weak/helpless as] [MET] women! The gates of your city will be opened wide [to allow] your enemies [to enter them], [and then] the bars of those gates will be burned.
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 Store up water [now to use when] your enemies surround the city! Repair the forts! Dig up clay and trample it [to make it soft], and put it into molds to make bricks [to repair the walls]!
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 [Nevertheless, your enemies] will burn your [city]; they will kill you with their swords; they will kill you like [SIM] locusts [destroy crops].
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 In your [city] there are now very many merchants; [it seems that] there are more of them than there are stars. But [when your city is being destroyed, those merchants will take the valuable things and disappear] [like] [SIM] locusts that strip the leaves from plants and [then] fly away.
You have multiplied your merchandise beyond the stars of heaven: the palmerworm has attacked [it], and has flown away.
17 Your leaders are [also] like a swarm of [SIM] locusts [DOU] that crowd together on the stone fences/walls on a cold day, and [then] fly away when the sun comes up, and no one knows where they have gone.
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 O King of Assyria, your officials will [all] be dead [EUP]; your important people will lie down and rest [forever]. Your people will be scattered over the mountains, and there will no one to gather them [together].
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 You [are like someone who] has a wound that cannot be healed; [it will be] a wound that causes him to die. And all those who hear about what has happened to you will clap their hands [joyfully]. [They will say, ] “Everyone has [RHQ] suffered because he continually was [very] cruel to us.”
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?
