Nahum 3
1 Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies [and] violence; the prey departeth not.
What a disaster is coming upon this murderous city with all its treachery! It is full of wealth it has robbed, and always has plenty of victims.
2 The crack of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the bounding chariots!
Listen to the noise: whips crack, wheels clatter, horses gallop, chariots rattle!
3 The horseman springing up, and the glitter of the sword, and the flash of the spear, and a multitude of slain, and a mass of carcases, and no end of corpses: they stumble over their corpses.
Horsemen charge, swords flash, spears glitter! Many dead, piles of corpses, countless bodies—so many that people stumble over them.
4 — Because of the multitude of the fornications of the well-favoured harlot, mistress of sorceries, that selleth nations through her fornications, and families through her sorceries,
All this happens because the repeated prostitution of Nineveh the prostitute, the beautiful mistress with her deadly charms who seduces nations into slavery by her prostitution and her witchcraft.
5 behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts; and I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
Watch out! For I am against you, declares the Lord Almighty. I will lift your skirts over your face and let the nations see your nakedness, and kingdoms see your shame.
6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing stock.
I will throw filth at you. I will treat you with contempt, and make a spectacle of you.
7 And it shall come to pass, [that] all they that see thee shall flee from thee, and shall say, Nineveh is laid waste! Who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
Then everyone who sees you will shun you saying, “Nineveh is ruined! But who is going to mourn your loss?” Where should I look to find anyone to comfort you?
8 Art thou better than No-Amon, that was situate among the rivers, [that had] the waters round about her, whose rampart was the sea, [and] of the sea was her wall?
Are you any better than the city of Thebes on the River Nile, surrounded by water? Water was its defense, water was its wall.
9 Ethiopia was her strength, and Egypt, and it was infinite; Phut and the Libyans were her helpers.
The city ruled Egypt and Ethiopia. Put and Libya were its allies.
10 She too was carried away, she went into captivity: her infants 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 with chains.
Yet its people were also taken away into exile, into captivity. Their babies were dashed to pieces in every street. Their nobles were bound in chains and taken away as servants, chosen by lot.
11 Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid; thou also shalt seek a refuge from the enemy.
You too will behave like a drunk. You will hide in fear, trying to find a place safe from the enemy.
12 All thy strongholds are [like] fig-trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they even fall into the mouth of the eater.
All your fortresses are like fig trees ripe with fruit—they fall when they are shaken into the mouth of the one eating.
13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are [as] women: the gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies; the fire devoureth thy bars.
Look! Your soldiers are women among you. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; the bars of the gates will be set on fire.
14 Draw thee water for the siege, strengthen thy fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick-kiln.
Store water to prepare for a siege! Strengthen your fortresses! Go to the clay pits to tread it well, mix the cement, get your brick molds ready!
15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee like the cankerworm. Make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locust.
But even so, there the fire will consume you, you will be cut down by the sword. You will be destroyed as if you were devoured by a swarm of locusts. So multiply yourselves like locusts, like a swarm of locusts.
16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants more than the stars of the heavens; the cankerworm spreadeth himself out and flieth away.
You increased your merchants so that there are more of them than the stars of heaven. But like locusts they strip everything and then fly away.
17 Thy chosen men are as the locusts, and thy captains as swarms of grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day: when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
Your leaders are like locusts, your officials like a swarm of locusts. They rest on walls on a cold day, but when the sun rises they fly away, and no one knows where they've gone.
18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy nobles lie still; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.
King of Assyria, your shepherds are asleep, your princes are slumbering. Your people are scattered across the mountains and no one can gather them.
19 There is no healing of thy breach; thy wound is grievous; all that hear the report of thee clap the hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
There is no way to heal your injuries, you are too badly wounded. Everyone who hears this news will applaud what has happened to you, for was there anyone who escaped your continuous cruelty?
