< Nahum 3 >
1 Woe to the bloody city! it [is] all full of lies [and] robberies; the prey departeth not;
2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the bounding chariots.
3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword, and the glittering spear: and [there is] a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; and [there is] no end of [their] corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:
4 Because of the multitude of the lewd deeds of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her lewd deeds, and families through her witchcrafts.
5 Behold, I [am] against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will remove thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock.
7 And it shall come to pass, [that] all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her; whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
8 Art thou better than populous No, that was situated among the rivers, [that had] the waters around it, whose rampart [was] the sea, [and] her wall [was] from the sea?
9 Cush and Egypt [were] her strength, and [it was] infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.
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.
11 Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.
12 All thy strong holds [shall be like] fig-trees with the first ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee [are] women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open to thy enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.
14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick-kiln.
15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the canker-worm: make thyself many as the canker-worm, make thyself many as the locusts.
16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm spoileth, and flieth away.
17 Thy crowned [are] as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which settle in the hedges in the cold day, [but] when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they [are].
18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell [in the dust]: thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth [them].
19 [There is] no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the fame of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
