Nahum 3
3
Nineveh’s Downfall
1Woe to the city of blood,#Ezk 7:23; 9:9; 22:2–3; 24:6,9; Hab 2:12
totally deceitful,
full of plunder,
never without prey.#Nah 2:9
2The crack of the whip
and rumble of the wheel,
galloping horse
and jolting chariot!#Jdg 5:22; Jb 39:24; Jr 47:3
3Charging horseman,
flashing sword,
shining spear;
heaps of slain,
mounds of corpses,#Lv 26:30; Ps 110:6; Is 66:24; Jr 41:9; Ezk 6:5
dead bodies without end#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,#2Kg 9:22; Pr 7:10–23; Ezk 16:15; 23:1–21; Rv 17:3–6
5I am against you.#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.#Is 47:3; Jr 13:22,26; Ezk 16:37; 23:29
6I will throw filth on you
and treat you with contempt;#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,#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#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#2Kg 8:12; Is 13:16; Hs 10:14
at the head of every street.
They cast lots for her dignitaries,#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.#Jl 1:4
Multiply yourselves like the young locust;
multiply like the swarming locust!
16You have made your merchants#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;#Jr 23:1–2; 50:6
your officers sleep.
Your people are scattered across the mountains#Ezk 34:6
with no one to gather them together.#1Kg 22:17
19There is no remedy for your injury;
your wound is severe.#Jr 10:19; 14:17; 30:12
All who hear the news about you
will clap their hands because of you,#Ps 47:1; 98:8; Lm 2:15; Ezk 22:13
for who has not experienced
your constant cruelty?
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Nahum 3
3
Bad News for Nineveh
1It will be very bad for that city of murderers.
Nineveh is a city full of lies.
It is filled with things taken from other countries.
It is filled with plenty of people that it hunted and killed.
2You can hear the sounds of whips
and the noise of wheels.
You can hear horses galloping
and chariots bouncing along!
3Soldiers on horses are attacking,
their swords are shining,
their spears are gleaming!
There are many dead people.
Dead bodies are piled up—too many bodies to count.
People are tripping over the dead bodies.
4All this happened because of Nineveh.
Nineveh is like a prostitute who could never get enough.
She wanted more and more.
She sold herself to many nations,
and she used her magic to make them her slaves.
5The Lord All-Powerful says,
“I am against you, Nineveh.
I will pull your dress#3:5 pull your dress This is a wordplay in Hebrew. The Hebrew word also means “to destroy a country and take its people away as prisoners to other nations.” up over your face.
I will let the nations see your naked body.
The kingdoms will see your shame.
6I will throw dirty things on you
and treat you in a hateful way.
People will look at you and laugh.
7Everyone who sees you will be shocked.
They will say, ‘Nineveh is destroyed.
Who will cry for her?’
I know I cannot find anyone to comfort you, Nineveh.”
8Nineveh, are you better than Thebes#3:8 Thebes A great city in Egypt. It was destroyed in 663 B.C. by the Assyrian army. on the Nile River? Thebes also had water all around her to protect herself from enemies. She used that water like a wall too. 9Ethiopia and Egypt made Thebes strong. Libya and the Sudan supported her, 10but Thebes was defeated. Her people were taken away as prisoners to a foreign country. Soldiers beat her small children to death at every street corner. They threw lots to see who got to keep the important people as slaves. They put chains on all the important men of Thebes.
11So, Nineveh, you will also fall like a drunk. You will try to hide. You will look for a safe place away from the enemy. 12But Nineveh, all your strong places will be like fig trees. When new figs become ripe, people come and shake the tree. The figs fall into their mouths. They eat them, and the figs are gone.
13Nineveh, your people are all like women—and the enemy soldiers are ready to take them. The gates of your land are open wide for your enemies to come in. Fire has destroyed the wooden bars across the gates.
14Get water and store it inside your city, because the enemy soldiers will surround your city. Make your defenses strong! Get clay to make more bricks and mix the mortar. Get the molds for making bricks. 15You can do all these things, but the fire will still destroy you completely. And the sword will kill you. Your land will look like a swarm of grasshoppers came and ate everything.
Nineveh, you grew and grew. You became like a swarm of grasshoppers. You were like a swarm of locusts. 16You have many traders who go places and buy things. They are as many as the stars in the sky. They are like locusts that come and eat until everything is gone and then leave. 17And your government officials are also like locusts that settle on a stone wall on a cold day. But when the sun comes up, the rocks become warm, and the locusts all fly away. And no one knows where.
18King of Assyria, your shepherds fell asleep. These powerful men are sleeping. And now your sheep have wandered away on the mountains. There is no one to bring them back. 19Nineveh, you have been hurt badly, and nothing can heal your wound. Everyone who hears the news of your destruction claps their hands. They are all happy, because they all felt the pain you caused again and again.
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