Nahum 3

1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departs not;

O city of blood, wholly false, full of unrighteousness; the prey shall not be handled.

2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots.

The noise of whips, and the noise of the rumbling of wheels, and of the pursuing horse, and of the bounding chariot,

3 The horseman lifts 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 none end of their corpses; they stumble on 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 prostitutions of the well favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that sells nations through her prostitutions, and families through her witchcrafts.

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, I am against you, says the LORD of hosts; and I will discover your skirts on your face, and I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your 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 abominable filth on you, and make you vile, and will set you as a spectacle.

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 they that look on you shall flee from you, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? from where shall I seek comforters for you?

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 Are you better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?

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 and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were your 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 was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound 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 You also shall be drunken: you shall be hid, you also shall seek strength because of the enemy.

And thou shalt be drunken, and shalt be overlooked; and thou shalt seek for thyself strength because of [thine] enemies.

12 All your 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.

All thy strong-holds are as fig-trees having watchers: if they be shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of the eater.

13 Behold, your people in the middle of you are women: the gates of your land shall be set wide open to your enemies: the fire shall devour your 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 Draw you waters for the siege, fortify your strong holds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick kiln.

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 the fire devour you; the sword shall cut you off, it shall eat you up like the cankerworm: make yourself many as the cankerworm, make yourself many as the locusts.

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 You have multiplied your merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoils, and flees away.

Thou hast multiplied thy merchandise beyond the stars of heaven: the palmerworm has attacked [it], and has flown away.

17 Your crowned are as the locusts, and your captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun rises they flee away, and their place is not known 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 Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: your nobles shall dwell in the dust: your people is scattered on the mountains, and no man gathers 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 There is no healing of your bruise; your wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of you shall clap the hands over you: for on whom has not your wickedness passed continually?

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?