Nahum 3
3
1 WOE TO the bloody city! It is full of lies and booty and [there is] no end to the plunder! [Ezek. 24:6, 9, 10; Hab. 2:12.]
2 The cracking of the whip, the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses and chariots rumbling and bounding,
3 Horsemen mounting and charging, the flashing sword, the gleaming spear, a multitude of slain and a great number of corpses, no end of corpses! [The horsemen] stumble over the corpses!
4 All because of the multitude of the harlotries [of Nineveh], the well-favored harlot, the mistress of deadly charms who betrays and sells nations through her whoredoms [idolatry] and peoples through her enchantments.
5 Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will lift up your skirts over your face, and I will let the nations look on your nakedness [O Nineveh] and the kingdoms on your shame.
6 I will cast abominable things at you and make you filthy, treat you with contempt, and make you a gazingstock.
7 And all who look on you will shrink and flee from you and say, Nineveh is laid waste; who will pity and bemoan her? Where [then] shall I seek comforters for you?
8 Are you better than No-amon [Thebes, capital of Upper Egypt], that dwelt by the rivers or canals, that had the waters round about her, whose rampart was a sea [the Nile] and water her wall?
9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and that without limit. Put and the Libyans were her helpers.
10 Yet she was carried away; she went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed in pieces at all the street corners; lots were cast [by the Assyrian officers] for her nobles, and all her great men were bound with chains.
11 You will be drunk [Nineveh, with the cup of God's wrath]; you will be dazed. You will seek and require a refuge because of the enemy.
12 All your fortresses are fig trees with early figs; if they are shaken they will fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Behold, your troops in the midst of you are [as weak and helpless as] women; the gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies [without effort]; fire consumes your bars.
14 Draw for yourself the water [necessary] for a [long continued] siege, make strong your fortresses! Go down into the clay pits and trample the mortar; make ready the brickkiln [to burn bricks for the bulwarks]!
15 [But] there [in the very midst of these preparations] will the fire devour you; the sword will cut you off; it will destroy you as the locusts [destroy]. Multiply yourselves like the licking locusts; make yourselves many like the swarming locusts!
16 You increased your merchants more than the [visible] stars of the heavens. The swarming locust spreads itself and destroys, and then flies away.
17 Your princes are like the grasshoppers and your marshals like the swarms of locusts which encamp in the hedges on a cold day–but when the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows where they are.
18 Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles are lying still [in death]. Your people are scattered on the mountains and there is no one to gather them.
19 There is no healing of your hurt; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over [what has happened to] you. For upon whom has not your [unceasing] evil come continually?
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Nahum 3: AMPC
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1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
Nachum (Nam) 3
3
1Woe to the city of blood, steeped in lies,
full of prey, with no end to the plunder!
2The crack of the whip! The rattle of wheels!
Galloping horses, jolting chariots,
3cavalry charging, swords flashing,
spears glittering —
and hosts of slain, heaps of bodies;
there is no end to the corpses;
they stumble over their corpses.
4“Because of the continual whoring of this whore,
this alluring mistress of sorcery,
who sells nations with her whoring
and families with her sorcery;
5I am against you,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
“I will uncover your skirts on your face;
I will show the nations your private parts
and the kingdoms your shame.
6I will pelt you with disgusting filth,
disgrace you and make a spectacle of you.
7Then all who see you will recoil from you;
they will say, ‘Ninveh is destroyed!’
Who will mourn for her?
Where can I find people to comfort you?”
8Are you any better than No-Amon,
located among the streams of the Nile,
with water all around her,
the flood her wall of defense?
9Ethiopia and Egypt gave her boundless strength,
Put and Luvim were there to help you.
10Still she went captive into exile,
her infants torn to pieces at every streetcorner.
Lots were drawn for her nobles,
and all her great men were bound in chains.
11You too, [Ninveh,] will be drunk;
your senses completely overcome.
You too will seek a refuge
from the enemy.
12All your fortifications will be
like fig trees with early ripening figs;
the moment they are shaken, they fall
into the mouth of the eater.
13Look at your troops! They behave like women!
Your country’s gates are wide open to your foes;
fire has consumed their bars.
14Draw water for the siege!
Strengthen your fortifications!
Go down in the clay, tread the mortar,
Take hold of the mold for bricks!
15There the fire will burn you up;
and the sword will cut you down;
it will devour you like grasshoppers.
Make yourselves as many as grasshoppers,
Make yourselves as many as locusts!
16You had more merchants than stars in the sky.
The locust sheds its skin and flies away.
17Your guards are like grasshoppers,
your marshals like swarms of locusts,
which settle on the walls on a cold day,
but when the sun rises they fly away;
they vanish to no one knows where.
18Your shepherds are slumbering, king of Ashur.
Your leaders are asleep.
Your people are scattered all over the mountains,
with no one to round them up.
19Your wound cannot be healed.
Your injury is fatal.
Everyone hearing the news about you
claps his hands in joy over you.
For who has not been overwhelmed
by your relentless cruelty?
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