Nahum Propheta 3
1 Væ civitas sanguinum, universa mendacii dilaceratione plena: non recedet a te rapina.
Woe to the bloody city! Full of lies and plunder, without end is the spoil.
2 Vox flagelli, et vox impetus rotæ, et equi frementis, et quadrigæ ferventis, et equitis ascendentis:
Hear the crack of the whip, hear the rattle of wheels. Galloping horses, jolting chariots.
3 et micantis gladii, et fulgurantis hastæ, et multitudinis interfectæ, et gravis ruinæ: nec est finis cadaverum, et corruent in corporibus suis.
Horsemen charging, swords flashing, spears glittering, a multitude of slain, a heap of bodies, no end to the corpses over which people stumble!
4 Propter multitudinem fornicationum meretricis speciosæ, et gratæ, et habentis maleficia, quæ vendidit gentes in fornicationibus suis, et familias in maleficiis suis:
‘Because you acted like a whore, bewitching the nations, enticing the peoples,
5 Ecce ego ad te, dicit Dominus exercituum, et revelabo pudenda tua in facie tua, et ostendam Gentibus nuditatem tuam, et regnis ignominiam tuam.
I am against you, Nineveh’ the Lord of hosts declares. ‘I will strip your clothes and show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.
6 Et proiiciam super te abominationes, et contumeliis te afficiam, et ponam te in exemplum.
‘I will fling loathsome filth at you, and make you an object of contempt, a spectacle,
7 Et erit: omnis, qui viderit te, resiliet a te, et dicet: Vastata est Ninive: quis commovebit super te caput? unde quæram consolatorem tibi?
so that everyone who sees you will flee from you and say: “Nineveh is laid waste, who will mourn for her?”
8 Numquid melior es Alexandria populorum, quæ habitat in fluminibus? aquæ in circuti eius: cuius divitiæ, mare: aquæ muri eius.
‘Are you any better than Thebes, which stood on the banks of the Nile, with waters around as a rampart, whose wall was the sea of waters?
9 Æthiopia fortitudo eius, et Ægyptus, et non est finis: Africa, et Libyes fuerunt in auxilio tuo.
Her strength was Ethiopia and Egypt. The Libyans were her helpers, and Put with its countless people.
10 Sed et ipsa in transmigrationem ducta est in captivitatem: parvuli eius elisi sunt in capite omnium viarum, et super inclytos eius miserunt sortem, et omnes optimates eius confixi sunt in compedibus.
Yet she was exiled and made captive. On all corners of the streets her infants were dashed to pieces. Lots were cast for her nobles, all her great ones were bound in chains.
11 Et tu ergo inebriaberis, et eris despecta: et tu quæres auxilium ab inimico.
‘You too, Nineveh, will be drunk with fear; you too will seek a place of escape from the foe.
12 Omnes munitiones tuæ sicut ficus cum grossis suis: si concussæ fuerint, cadent in os comedentis.
All your fortresses are fig trees with the first ripe figs; if shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater!
13 Ecce populus tuus mulieres in medio tui: inimicis tuis adapertione pandentur portæ terræ tuæ, devorabit ignis vectes tuos.
Your troops are weak as women before your foes; the gates of your land are wide open; your defenses burned down.
14 Aquam propter obsidionem hauri tibi, extrue munitiones tuas: intra in lutum, et calca, subigens tene laterem.
‘Draw water for the siege, strengthen your forts. Go to the clay pits and tread the clay; take up the brick moulds.
15 Ibi comedet te ignis: peribis gladio, devorabit te ut bruchus: congregare ut bruchus: multiplicare ut locusta.
There the fire will consume you, the sword will cut you down. Multiply like the locust or a swarm of grasshoppers.
16 Plures fecisti negotiationes tuas quam stellæ sint cæli: bruchus expansus est, et avolavit.
Increase the numbers of your merchants until they are more than the stars of heaven,
17 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.
until your watchmen are locusts, and your scribes like grasshoppers, which swarm in the hedges on a cold day; but when the sun rises they fly away, no one knows where.
18 Dormitaverunt pastores tui, rex Assur: sepelientur principes tui: latitavit populus tuus in montibus, et non est qui congreget.
‘King of Assyria: your princes slumber, your nobles sleep! Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them!
19 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?
There is no healing for your hurt, your wound is incurable. All who hear of your fate clap their hands in joy, for who has escaped your limitless cruelty?’
