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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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Nahum 3
3
Woe to Nineveh
1Woe to #Ezek. 24:9; [Hab. 2:12] the bloody city,
all full of lies and plunder—
# [ch. 2:12] no end to the prey!
2The crack of the whip, and #[ch. 2:4] rumble of the wheel,
# [Judg. 5:22] galloping horse and #[Joel 2:5]bounding chariot!
3Horsemen charging,
flashing sword and #Hab. 3:11 glittering spear,
# [2 Kgs. 19:35] hosts of slain,
heaps of corpses,
dead bodies without end—
they stumble over the bodies!
4And all for the countless whorings of the #[Rev. 17:2; 18:3] prostitute,
# [Isa. 47:9, 12] graceful and of deadly charms,
who betrays nations with her whorings,
and peoples with her charms.
5 # [See ch. 2:13 above] Behold, I am against you,
declares the Lord of hosts,
and #Jer. 13:22, 26; [Isa. 3:17; 47:3] will lift up your skirts over your face;
and I will make nations look at #Hab. 2:16your nakedness
and kingdoms at your shame.
6I will throw filth at you
and #Mal. 2:9; [ch. 1:14] treat you with contempt
and make you #Heb. 10:33; [1 Cor. 4:9]a spectacle.
7And all who look at you #Jer. 51:9; Rev. 18:10 will shrink from you and say,
“Wasted is #[Zeph. 2:13]; See ch. 1:1 Nineveh; #Isa. 51:19; Jer. 15:5 who will grieve for her?”
#
Lam. 1:2, 9, 16, 17, 21 Where shall I seek comforters for you?
8 # [Amos 6:2] Are you better than #Jer. 46:25 Thebes#3:8 Hebrew No-amon
that sat #[Ezek. 29:3]by the Nile,
with water around her,
her rampart a sea,
and water her wall?
9 # See Dan. 11:43 Cush was her strength;
Egypt too, and that without limit;
#
Gen. 10:6 Put and the #See 2 Chr. 12:3Libyans were her#3:9 Hebrew your helpers.
10 #
Isa. 20:4 Yet she became an exile;
she went into captivity;
#
Isa. 13:16 her infants were dashed in pieces
at the head of every street;
for her honored men #Joel 3:3; Obad. 11 lots were cast,
# [Ps. 149:8] and all her great men were bound in chains.
11 #
Jer. 25:17, 27; [Ps. 75:8; Isa. 51:17; Obad. 16] You also will be drunken;
you will go into hiding;
# [Jer. 4:5, 6] you will seek a refuge from the enemy.
12All your fortresses are #[Rev. 6:13]like fig trees
with first-ripe figs—
if shaken they fall
into the mouth of the eater.
13Behold, your troops
#
Isa. 19:16; Jer. 51:30 are women in your midst.
The gates of your land
are wide open to your enemies;
fire has devoured your bars.
14 # [Isa. 22:11] Draw water for the siege;
# [See ver. 11 above] strengthen your forts;
go into the clay;
tread the mortar;
take hold of the brick mold!
15There will the fire devour you;
the sword will cut you off.
It will #[Joel 2:3] devour you #[Joel 1:4, 6]like the locust.
Multiply yourselves #[Joel 1:4, 6]like the locust;
multiply #[Joel 1:4, 6]like the grasshopper!
16You increased #[Ezek. 27:23, 24] your merchants
more than the stars of the heavens.
# [See ver. 15 above] The locust spreads its wings and flies away.
17Your #[Isa. 10:8] princes are #[See ver. 15 above] like grasshoppers,
#
Jer. 51:27
your scribes#3:17 Or marshals like clouds of locusts
settling on the fences
in a day of cold—
when the sun rises, they fly away;
no one knows where they are.
18Your shepherds #[Ps. 76:5] are asleep,
O king of Assyria;
# ch. 2:5 your nobles slumber.
Your people #[1 Kgs. 22:17]are scattered on the mountains
with none to gather them.
19There is no easing your hurt;
#
Jer. 10:19; Mic. 1:9 your wound is grievous.
All who hear the news about you
#
Lam. 2:15; [Zeph. 2:15] clap their hands over you.
For #[Isa. 37:18]upon whom has not come
your unceasing evil?
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