Nahum 3

Nineveh’s Downfall

1Woe to the city of blood, # 3:1 Ezk 7:23; 9:9; 22:2–3; 24:6,9; Hab 2:12

totally deceitful,

full of plunder,

never without prey. # 3:1 Nah 2:9

2The crack of the whip

and rumble of the wheel,

galloping horse

and jolting chariot! # 3:2 Jdg 5:22; Jb 39:24; Jr 47:3

3Charging horseman,

flashing sword,

shining spear;

heaps of slain,

mounds of corpses, # 3:3 Lv 26:30; Ps 110:6; Is 66:24; Jr 41:9; Ezk 6:5

dead bodies without end # 3:3 Nah 2:9 —

they stumble over their dead.

4Because of the continual prostitution of the prostitute,

the attractive mistress of sorcery,

who treats nations and clans like merchandise

by her prostitution and sorcery, # 3:4 2Kg 9:22; Pr 7:10–23; Ezk 16:15; 23:1–21; Rv 17:3–6

5I am against you. # 3:5 Nah 2:13

This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.

I will lift your skirts over your face

and display your nakedness to nations,

your shame to kingdoms. # 3:5 Is 47:3; Jr 13:22,26; Ezk 16:37; 23:29

6I will throw filth on you

and treat you with contempt; # 3:6 Ps 107:40; Is 16:14; Dn 12:2; Mc 6:16; Mal 2:3

I will make a spectacle of you.

7Then all who see you will recoil from you, saying, # 3:7 Dt 28:25,37; 2Ch 29:8; 30:7; Ps 31:11; Is 66:24; Jr 15:4; 24:9; 50:23

“Nineveh is devastated;

who will show sympathy to her? ”

Where can I find anyone to comfort you?

8Are you better than Thebes # 3:8 Hb No-amon,# 3:8 Jr 46:25; Ezk 30:14–16

that sat along the Nile

with water surrounding her,

whose rampart was the sea,

the river # 3:8 LXX, Syr, Vg read water,# 3:8 Lit sea from sea her wall?

9Cush and Egypt were her endless source of strength;

Put and Libya were among her # 3:9 Lit your allies.

10Yet she became an exile;

she went into captivity.

Her children were also dashed to pieces # 3:10 2Kg 8:12; Is 13:16; Hs 10:14

at the head of every street.

They cast lots for her dignitaries, # 3:10 Ob 11

and all her nobles were bound in chains.

11You # 3:11 = Nineveh also will become drunk;

you will hide. # 3:11 Or will be overcome

You also will seek refuge from the enemy.

12All your fortresses are fig trees

with figs that ripened first;

when shaken, they fall —

right into the mouth of the eater!

13Look, your troops are like women among you;

your land’s city gates

are wide open to your enemies.

Fire will devour the bars of your gates.

14Draw water for the siege;

strengthen your fortresses.

Step into the clay and tread the mortar;

take hold of the brick-mold!

15The fire will devour you there;

the sword will cut you down.

It will devour you like the young locust. # 3:15 Jl 1:4

Multiply yourselves like the young locust;

multiply like the swarming locust!

16You have made your merchants # 3:16 Ezk 16:29; 17:4; 27:3,13,20,23–24; Zph 1:11; Rv 18:3,11,15,23

more numerous than the stars of the sky.

The young locust strips # 3:16 Or sheds its skin the land

and flies away.

17Your court officials are like the swarming locust,

and your scribes like clouds of locusts,

which settle on the walls on a cold day;

when the sun rises, they take off,

and no one knows where they are.

18King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; # 3:18 Jr 23:1–2; 50:6

your officers sleep.

Your people are scattered across the mountains # 3:18 Ezk 34:6

with no one to gather them together. # 3:18 1Kg 22:17

19There is no remedy for your injury;

your wound is severe. # 3:19 Jr 10:19; 14:17; 30:12

All who hear the news about you

will clap their hands because of you, # 3:19 Ps 47:1; 98:8; Lm 2:15; Ezk 22:13

for who has not experienced

your constant cruelty?

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Nahum 3: CSB

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Nachum 3

1Hoy (woe) to the ir damim (bloody city)!

It is all full of lies and booty;

no end to the plunder;

2The crack of the shot (whip),

and the noise of the rattling of the wheels,

and of the prancing susim,

and of the jolting merkavah (chariot);

3The parash (horsemen, cavalry) charging,

the flash of the cherev and the glittering spear;

and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of dead bodies;

and there is no end of their geviyot (corpses);

they stumble over their geviyot;

4Because of the multitude of the harlotries of the alluring zonah,

the ba'alat keshafim (the mistress of sorceries),

that enslaveth Goyim through her prostitutions,

and mishpochot through her keshafim;

5Hineni, I am against thee, saith Hashem Tzva'os;

and I will lift thy skirts over thy faces,

and I will show the Goyim thy nakedness,

and the mamlachot thy shame.

6And I (Hashem) will cast abominable filth upon thee,

and make thee contemptibly vile, and will make thee a spectacle.

7And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee

shall flee from thee, and say:

Nineveh is in ruins; who will bemoan her?

From where shall I seek menachamim (comforters) for thee?

8Art thou better than No Amon (Thebes),

that was situated on the Nile, that had the mayim round about it,

whose rampart was the yam, and her waters were her chomah?

9Ethiopia and Mitzrayim were her strength, and it was boundless;

Put and Luvim (Libya) were her allies.

10Yet she went into golus,

she went into captivity;

her olalim also were dashed in pieces

at the head of all the streets;

and they cast goral (lots) for her honorable men,

and all her gedolim were bound in chains.

11Thou also shalt be drunken, thou shalt be hid,

thou also shalt seek maoz from the enemy.

12All thy strongholds shall be like te'enim (fig trees) with the first ripe figs;

if they be shaken,

they shall even fall into the peh (mouth) of the ochel (eater).

13Hinei, thy troops in the midst of thee are nashim (women);

the gates of thy land

shall be set wide open unto thine enemies;

the eish shall devour thy (gate) bars.

14Draw thee water for the matzor (siege),

fortify thy strongholds,

go unto clay, and tread the mortar,

repair the brickwork.

15There shall the eish devour thee,

the cherev shall consume thee,

it shall eat thee up like the grasshopper.

Make thyself many as the grasshopper,

make thyself many as the arbeh (locust).

16Thou hast multiplied thy merchants more than the kokhavim of HaShomayim;

but, like the locust, they strip the land, then fly away.

17Thy commanders are as the swarming locusts,

and thy officials as the great grasshoppers,

which camp in the hedges on a cold day,

but when the shemesh ariseth they flee away,

and their place is whereabouts unknown.

18Thy ro'im (shepherds) slumber, O melech of Ashur (Assyria);

thy nobles sleep;

thy people are scattered upon the mountains,

and no man gathereth them.

19There is no healing of thy shever (fracture, injury);

thy wound is grievous;

all that hear the news of thee

shall clap their hands over thy fall;

for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed tamid (continually)?

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