Nahum 3
3
Ruin Imminent and Inevitable
1Ah! City of bloodshed,
utterly deceitful, full of booty—
no end to the plunder!
2The crack of whip and rumble of wheel,
galloping horse and bounding chariot!
3Horsemen charging,
flashing sword and glittering spear,
piles of dead,
heaps of corpses,
dead bodies without end—
they stumble over the bodies!
4Because of the countless debaucheries of the prostitute,
gracefully alluring, mistress of sorcery,
who enslaves#3.4 Heb sells nations through her debaucheries,
and peoples through her sorcery,
5I am against you,
says the Lord of hosts,
and will lift up your skirts over your face;
and I will let nations look on your nakedness
and kingdoms on your shame.
6I will throw filth at you
and treat you with contempt,
and make you a spectacle.
7Then all who see you will shrink from you and say,
“Nineveh is devastated; who will bemoan her?”
Where shall I seek comforters for you?
8Are you better than Thebes#3.8 Heb No-amon
that sat by the Nile,
with water around her,
her rampart a sea,
water her wall?
9Ethiopia#3.9 Or Nubia; Heb Cush was her strength,
Egypt too, and that without limit;
Put and the Libyans were her#3.9 Gk: Heb your helpers.
10Yet she became an exile,
she went into captivity;
even her infants were dashed in pieces
at the head of every street;
lots were cast for her nobles,
all her dignitaries were bound in fetters.
11You also will be drunken,
you will go into hiding;#3.11 Meaning of Heb uncertain
you will seek
a refuge from the enemy.
12All your fortresses are like fig trees
with first-ripe figs—
if shaken they fall
into the mouth of the eater.
13Look at your troops:
they are women in your midst.
The gates of your land
are wide open to your foes;
fire has devoured the bars of your gates.
14Draw water for the siege,
strengthen your forts;
trample the clay,
tread the mortar,
take hold of the brick mold!
15There the fire will devour you,
the sword will cut you off.
It will devour you like the locust.
Multiply yourselves like the locust,
multiply like the grasshopper!
16You increased your merchants
more than the stars of the heavens.
The locust sheds its skin and flies away.
17Your guards are like grasshoppers,
your scribes like swarms#3.17 Meaning of Heb uncertain of locusts
settling on the fences
on a cold day—
when the sun rises, they fly away;
no one knows where they have gone.
18Your shepherds are asleep,
O king of Assyria;
your nobles slumber.
Your people are scattered on the mountains
with no one to gather them.
19There is no assuaging your hurt,
your wound is mortal.
All who hear the news about you
clap their hands over you.
For who has ever escaped
your endless cruelty?
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Nahum 3: NRSV-CI
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New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Nahum 3
3
1Woe to thee, O city of blood, all full of lies and violence: rapine shall not depart from thee.
2The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the neighing horse, and of the running chariot, and of the horsemen coming up,
3And of the shining sword, and of the glittering spear, and of a multitude slain, and of a grievous destruction: and there is no end of carcasses, and they shall fall down on their dead bodies.
4Because of the multitude of the fornications of the harlot that was beautiful and agreeable, and that made use of witchcraft, that sold nations through her fornications, and families through her witchcrafts.
5Behold I come against thee, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will discover thy shame to thy face, and will shew thy nakedness to the nations, and thy shame to kingdoms.
6And I will cast abominations upon thee, and will disgrace thee, and will make an example of thee.
7And it shall come to pass that every one that shall see thee, shall flee from thee, and shall say: Ninive is laid waste: who shall bemoan thee? whence shall I seek a comforter for thee?
8Art thou better than the populous Alexandria, that dwelleth among the rivers? waters are round about it: the sea is its riches, the waters are its walls.
9Ethiopia and Egypt were the strength thereof, and there is no end: Africa and the Libyans were thy helpers.
10Yet she also was removed and carried into captivity: her young children were dashed in pieces at the top of every street, and they cast lots upon her nobles, and all her great men were bound in fetters.
11Therefore thou also shalt be made drunk, and shalt be despised: and thou shalt seek help from the enemy.
12All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with their green figs: if they be shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of the eater.
13Behold thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open to thy enemies, the fire shall devour thy bars.
14Draw thee water for the siege, build up thy bulwarks: go into the clay, and tread, work it and make brick.
15There shall the fire devour thee: thou shalt perish by the sword, it shall devour thee like the bruchus: assemble together like the bruchus, make thyself many like the locust.
16Thou hast multiplied thy merchandises above the stars of heaven: the bruchus hath spread himself and flown away.
17Thy guards are like the locusts: and thy little ones like the locusts of locusts which swarm on the hedges in the day of cold: the sun arose, and they flew away, and their place was not known where they were.
18Thy shepherds have slumbered, O king of Assyria, thy princes shall be buried: thy people are hid in the mountains, and there is none to gather them together.
19Thy destruction is not hidden, thy wound is grievous: all that have heard the fame of thee, have clapped their hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.