Nahum 2:1–3:19

The Fall of Nineveh

2 Nineveh, you are under attack!

The power that will shatter you has come.

Prepare the defences!

Guard the road!

Prepare for battle!

2(The Lord is about to restore the glory of Israel, as it was before her enemies plundered her.)

3 The enemy soldiers carry red shields

and wear uniforms of red.

They are preparing to attack!

Their chariots flash like fire!

Their horsesb prance!

4 Chariots dash wildly through the streets,

rushing to and fro through the city squares.

They flash like torches

and dart about like lightning.

5 The officers are summoned;

they stumble as they press forward.

The attackers rush to the wall

and set up the shield for the battering ram.

6 The gates by the river burst open;

the palace is filled with terror.

7 The queen is taken captive;

her servants moan like doves

and beat their breasts in sorrow.

8 Like water from a broken dam

the people rush from Nineveh!c

“Stop! Stop!” the cry rings out—

but no one turns back.

9 Plunder the silver!

Plunder the gold!

The city is full of treasure!

10 Nineveh is destroyed, deserted, desolate!

Hearts melt with fear;

knees tremble, strength is gone;

faces grow pale.

11 Where now is the city

that was like a den of lions,

the place

where young lions were fed, where the lion and the lioness would go

and their cubs would be safe?

12 The lion killed his prey

and tore it to pieces for his mate and her cubs;

he filled his den with torn flesh.

13 “I am your enemy!” says the Lord Almighty. “I will burn up your chariots. Your soldiers will be killed in war, and I will take away everything that you took from others. The demands of your envoys will no longer be heard.”

3 Doomed is the lying, murderous city,

full of wealth to be looted and plundered!

2 Listen! The crack of the whip,

the rattle of wheels,

the gallop of horses,

the jolting of chariots!

3 Horsemen charge,

swords flash, spears gleam!

Corpses are piled high,

dead bodies without number—

men stumble over them!

4 Nineveh the whore is being punished.

Attractive and full of deadly charms,

she enchanted nations and enslavedd them.

5 The Lord Almighty says,

“I will punish you, Nineveh!

I will strip you naked

and let the nations see you,

see you in all your shame.

6 I will treat you with contempt

and cover you with filth.

People will stare at you in horror.

7 All who see you will shrink back.

They will say, ‘Nineveh lies in ruins!

Who has any sympathy for her?

Who will want to comfort her?’ ”

8 Nineveh, are you any better than Thebes, the capital of Egypt? She too had a river to protect her like a wall—the Nile was her defence. 9She ruled Ethiopiae and Egypt, there was no limit to her power; Libya was her ally. 10Yet the people of Thebes were carried off into exile. At every street corner their children were beaten to death. Their leading men were carried off in chains and divided among their captors.

11 Nineveh, you too will fall into a drunken stupor! You too will try to escape from your enemies. 12All your fortresses will be like fig trees with ripe figs: shake the trees, and the fruit falls right into your mouth! 13Your soldiers are like women, and your country stands defenceless before your enemies. Fire will destroy the bars across your gates. 14Draw water to prepare for a siege, and strengthen your fortresses! Trample the clay to make bricks, and get the brick moulds ready! 15No matter what you do, you will still be burnt to death or killed in battle. You will be wiped out like crops eaten up by locusts.

You multiplied like locusts! 16You produced more merchants than there are stars in the sky! But now they are gone, like locusts that spread their wings and fly away. 17Your officials are like a swarm of locusts that stay in the walls on a cold day. But when the sun comes out, they fly away, and no one knows where they have gone!

18 Emperor of Assyria, your governors are dead, and your noblemen are asleep for ever! Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to bring them home again. 19There is no remedy for your injuries, and your wounds cannot be healed. All those who hear the news of your destruction clap their hands for joy. Did anyone escape your endless cruelty?