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.
Woe to the city full of blood! It is all full of lies and stolen property; victims are always in her.
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!
But now there is the noise of whips and the sound of rattling wheels, prancing horses, and bounding chariots.
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.
There are attacking horsemen, flashing swords, glittering spears, heaps of corpses, great piles of bodies. There is no end to the bodies; their attackers stumble over them.
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.
This is happening because of the lustful actions of the beautiful prostitute, the expert in witchcraft, who sells nations through her prostitution, and peoples through her acts of witchcraft.
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].
“See, I am against you—this is the declaration of Yahweh of hosts—I will raise up your skirt over your face and show your private parts to the nations, your shame to the kingdoms.
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.
I will throw disgusting filth on you and make you vile; I will make you someone that everyone will look at.
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!”
It will come about that everyone who looks at you will flee from you and say, 'Nineveh is destroyed; who will weep for her?' Where can I find anyone to comfort you?”
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].
Nineveh, are you better than Thebes, that was built on the Nile River, that had water around her, whose defense was the ocean, whose wall was the sea itself?
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.
Cush and Egypt were her strength, and there was no end to it; Put and Libya were allies to her.
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 Thebes was carried away; she went into captivity; her young children were dashed in pieces at the head of every street; her enemies threw lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were 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.
You also will become drunk; you will try to hide, and you will also look for a refuge from your enemy.
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 fortresses will be like fig trees with the earliest ripe figs: if they are shaken, they 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.
See, the people among you are women; the gates of your land have been opened wide to your enemies; fire has devoured their 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]!
Go draw water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses; go into the clay and tread the mortar; pick up the molds for the bricks.
15 [Nevertheless, your enemies] will burn your [city]; they will kill you with their swords; they will kill you like [SIM] locusts [destroy crops].
Fire will devour you there, and the sword will destroy you. It will devour you as young locusts devour everything. Make yourselves as many as the young locusts, as many as the full-grown locusts.
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 merchants more than the stars in the heavens; but they are like young locusts: they plunder the land and then fly 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 princes are as many as the full-grown locusts, and your generals are like swarms of them that camp in the walls on a cold day. But when the sun rises they fly away to no one knows where.
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].
King of Assyria, your shepherds are asleep; your rulers are lying down resting. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to gather 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.”
No healing is possible for your wounds. Your wounds are severe. Everyone who hears the news about you will clap their hands in joy over you. Who has escaped your constant wickedness?
