Nahum 3

1 Woe to the city of blood, filled with all manner of lies and violence. Crime shall not depart from you:

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

2 the voice of the whip, and the voice of the turning wheels, and of the neighing horse, and the burning chariot, and the horsemen who ride,

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

3 and of the flashing sword and the shining spear, and of a multitude executed and a grievous ruination. Neither is there an end to the dead bodies, and they will fall down upon their dead bodies.

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 fornications of the kept woman, beautiful and pleasing and practicing evil deeds, who sold nations by her fornications, and families by her evil doing:

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 will come to you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will reveal your shame to your face, and I will show your nakedness to the Gentiles, and your disgrace to kingdoms.

Behold, I am against you, says the Lord God Almighty, and I will uncover your skirts in your presence, and I will show the nations your shame, and the kingdoms your disgrace.

6 And I will cast abominations over you, and I will afflict you with abuse, and I will make an example of you.

And I will cast abominable filth upon you according to your unclean ways, and will make you a public example.

7 And this shall be: everyone who sees you, will recoil from you, and he will say: “Nineveh has been devastated.” Who will shake his head over you? Where might I seek consolation for you?

And it shall be [that] every one that sees you shall go down from you, and shall say, Wretched Nineve! who shall lament for her? whence shall I seek comfort for her?

8 Are you better than the populous Alexandria, which dwells along the rivers? Waters encircle it: the sea, with its riches. The waters are its walls.

Prepare you a portion, tune the chord, prepare a portion for Ammon: she that dwells amongst the rivers, water is round about her, whose dominion is the sea, and whose walls are water.

9 Ethiopia and Egypt were its strength, and there is no limit. Africa and Northern Africa have been 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 Nevertheless, she has been led away with the transmigration into captivity. Her little ones have been dashed in pieces at the top of every street, and they have cast lots over her celebrities, and all her elite have been fastened together in shackles.

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 Therefore, you also will become inebriated, and you will be despised, and you will seek help from the opposition.

And you shall be drunken, and shall be overlooked; and you shall seek for yourself strength because of [your] enemies.

12 All your fortresses will be like fig trees with their green figs. If they are shaken violently, they will fall into the mouth of the one who devours.

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

13 Behold, women are at the center of your people. The gates of your land will be opened wide for your enemies; fire will devour your bars.

Behold, your people within you are as women: the gates of your land shall surely be opened to your enemies: the fire shall devour your bars.

14 Draw in water because of the blockade; build up your fortresses. Go into the clay and tread; work it to make brick.

Draw you water for a siege, and well secure your strongholds: enter into the clay, and be you trodden in the chaff, make [the fortifications] stronger than brick.

15 There, fire will devour you. You will perish by the sword; it will devour you like the beetle. Gather together like the beetle. Multiply like the locust.

There the fire shall devour you; the sword shall utterly destroy you, it shall devour you as the locust, and you shall be pressed down as a palmerworm.

16 You have made more negotiations than there are stars in the sky. The beetle has spread out and flown away.

You have multiplied your merchandise beyond the stars of heaven: the palmerworm has attacked [it], and has flown away.

17 Your guardians are like locusts, and your little ones are like locusts among locusts, which alight on hedges on a cold day. The sun rose up, and they flew away, and there was no way to know the place where they had been.

Your 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 have become drowsy, king Assur. Your princes will be buried. Your people have remained hidden in the mountains, and there is no one to gather them.

Your shepherds have slumbered, the Assyrian king has laid low your mighty men: your people departed to the mountains, and there was none to receive [them].

19 Your destruction is not hidden; your wound is grievous. All who have heard of your fame have clenched their hands over you, because over whom has your wickedness not trampled continually?

There is no healing for your bruise; your wound has rankled: all that hear the report of you shall clap their hands against you; for upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?