Nahum 3

1 Woe to the bloody city! Full of lies and plunder, without end is the spoil.

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

2 Hear the crack of the whip, hear the rattle of wheels. Galloping horses, jolting chariots.

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

3 Horsemen charging, swords flashing, spears glittering, a multitude of slain, a heap of bodies, no end to the corpses over which people stumble!

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 upon their corpses:

4 ‘Because you acted like a whore, bewitching the nations, enticing the peoples,

Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that sells nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.

5 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.

Behold, I am against you, says the LORD of hosts; and I will discover your skirts upon your face, and I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.

6 ‘I will fling loathsome filth at you, and make you an object of contempt, a spectacle,

And I will cast abominable filth upon you, and make you vile, and will set you as a gazing-stock.

7 so that everyone who sees you will flee from you and say: “Nineveh is laid waste, who will mourn for her?”

And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon you shall flee from you, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will lament for her? whence shall I seek comforters for you?

8 ‘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?

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

9 Her strength was Ethiopia and Egypt. The Libyans were her helpers, and Put with its countless people.

Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were your helpers.

10 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.

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 honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.

11 ‘You too, Nineveh, will be drunk with fear; you too will seek a place of escape from the foe.

You also shall be drunken: you shall be hid, you also shall seek strength because of the enemy.

12 All your fortresses are fig trees with the first ripe figs; if shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater!

All your strong holds shall be like fig trees with the first-fruits figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.

13 Your troops are weak as women before your foes; the gates of your land are wide open; your defenses burned down.

Behold, your people in the midst of you are women: the gates of your land shall be set wide open unto your enemies: the fire shall devour your bars.

14 ‘Draw water for the siege, strengthen your forts. Go to the clay pits and tread the clay; take up the brick moulds.

Draw you waters for the siege, fortify your strong holds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick-kiln.

15 There the fire will consume you, the sword will cut you down. Multiply like the locust or a swarm of grasshoppers.

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.

16 Increase the numbers of your merchants until they are more than the stars of heaven,

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

17 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.

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 arises they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.

18 ‘King of Assyria: your princes slumber, your nobles sleep! Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them!

Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: your nobles shall dwell in the dust: your people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathers them.

19 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?’

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 upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?