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
1Woe [to] the city of blood, She is all with lies — burglary — full, Prey doth not depart.
2The sound of a whip, And the sound of the rattling of a wheel, And of a prancing horse, and of a bounding chariot, Of a horseman mounting.
3And the flame of a sword, and the lightning of a spear, And the abundance of the wounded, And the weight of carcases, Yea, there is no end to the bodies, They stumble over their bodies.
4Because of the abundance of the fornications of an harlot, The goodness of the grace of the lady of witchcrafts, Who is selling nations by her fornications, And families by her witchcrafts.
5Lo, I [am] against thee, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts, And have removed thy skirts before thy face, And have shewed nations thy nakedness, And kingdoms thy shame,
6And I have cast upon thee abominations, And dishonoured thee, and made thee as a sight.
7And it hath come to pass, Each of thy beholders fleeth from thee, And hath said: ‘Spoiled is Nineveh, Who doth bemoan for her?’ Whence do I seek comforters for thee?
8Art thou better than No-Ammon, That is dwelling among brooks? Waters she hath round about her, Whose bulwark [is] the sea, waters her wall.
9Cush her might, and Egypt, and there is no end. Put and Lubim have been for thy help.
10Even she doth become an exile, She hath gone into captivity, Even her sucklings are dashed to pieces At the top of all out-places, And for her honoured ones they cast a lot, And all her great ones have been bound in fetters.
11Even thou art drunken, thou art hidden, Even thou dost seek a strong place, because of an enemy.
12All thy fortresses [are] fig-trees with first-fruits, If they are shaken, They have fallen into the mouth of the eater.
13Lo, thy people [are] women in thy midst, To thine enemies thoroughly opened Have been the gates of thy land, Consumed hath fire thy bars.
14Waters of a siege draw for thyself, Strengthen thy fortresses, Enter into mire, and tread on clay, Make strong a brick-kiln.
15There consume thee doth a fire, Cut thee off doth a sword, It doth consume thee as a cankerworm! Make thyself heavy as the cankerworm, Make thyself heavy as the locust.
16Multiply thy merchants above the stars of the heavens, The cankerworm hath stripped off, and doth flee away.
17Thy crowned ones [are] as a locust, And thy princes as great grasshoppers, That encamp in hedges in a day of cold, The sun hath risen, and it doth flee away, And not known is its place where they are.
18Slumbered have thy friends, king of Asshur, Rest do thine honourable ones, Scattered have been thy people on the mountains, And there is none gathering.
19There is no weakening of thy destruction, Grievous [is] thy smiting, All hearing thy fame have clapped the hand at thee, For over whom did not thy wickedness pass continually?
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