Nahum 3:14–17
14 Draw your water for the siege!
tFortify your strongholds!
Go into the clay and tread the mortar!
Make strong the brick kiln!
15 There the fire will devour you,
The sword will cut you off;
It will eat you up like a ulocust.
Make yourself many—like the locust!
Make yourself many—like the swarming locusts!
16 You have multiplied your vmerchants more than the stars of heaven.
The locust plunders and flies away.
17 wYour commanders are like swarming locusts,
And your generals like great grasshoppers,
Which camp in the hedges on a cold day;
When the sun rises they flee away,
And the place where they are is not known.
Nahum 3:14–17 — The New International Version (NIV)
14 Draw water for the siege,
strengthen your defenses!
Work the clay,
tread the mortar,
repair the brickwork!
15 There the fire will consume you;
the sword will cut you down—
they will devour you like a swarm of locusts.
Multiply like grasshoppers,
multiply like locusts!
16 You have increased the number of your merchants
till they are more numerous than the stars in the sky,
but like locusts they strip the land
and then fly away.
17 Your guards are like locusts,
your officials like swarms of locusts
that settle in the walls on a cold day—
but when the sun appears they fly away,
and no one knows where.
Nahum 3:14–17 — English Standard Version (ESV)
14 Draw water for the siege;
strengthen your forts;
go into the clay;
tread the mortar;
take hold of the brick mold!
15 There will the fire devour you;
the sword will cut you off.
It will devour you like the locust.
Multiply yourselves like the locust;
multiply like the grasshopper!
16 You increased your merchants
more than the stars of the heavens.
The locust spreads its wings and flies away.
17 Your princes are like grasshoppers,
your scribes 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.
Nahum 3:14–17 — King James Version (KJV 1900)
14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds:
Go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.
15 There shall the fire devour thee;
The sword shall cut thee off,
It shall eat thee up like the cankerworm:
Make thyself many as the cankerworm,
Make thyself many as the locusts.
16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven:
The cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.
17 Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers,
Which camp in the hedges in the cold day,
But when the sun ariseth they flee away,
And their place is not known where they are.
Nahum 3:14–17 — New Living Translation (NLT)
14 Get ready for the siege!
Store up water!
Strengthen the defenses!
Go into the pits to trample clay,
and pack it into molds,
making bricks to repair the walls.
15 But the fire will devour you;
the sword will cut you down.
The enemy will consume you like locusts,
devouring everything they see.
There will be no escape,
even if you multiply like swarming locusts.
16 Your merchants have multiplied
until they outnumber the stars.
But like a swarm of locusts,
they strip the land and fly away.
17 Your guards and officials are also like swarming locusts
that crowd together in the hedges on a cold day.
But like locusts that fly away when the sun comes up,
all of them will fly away and disappear.
Nahum 3:14–17 — New Century Version (NCV)
14 Get enough water before the long war begins.
Make your defenses strong!
Get mud,
mix clay,
make bricks!
15 There the fire will burn you up.
The sword will kill you;
like grasshoppers eating crops, the battle will completely destroy you.
Grow in number like hopping locusts;
grow in number like swarming locusts!
16 Your traders are more than the stars in the sky,
but like locusts, they strip the land and then fly away.
17 Your guards are like locusts.
Your officers are like swarms of locusts
that hang on the walls on a cold day.
When the sun comes up, they fly away,
and no one knows where they have gone.
Nahum 3:14–17 — American Standard Version (ASV)
14 Draw thee water for the siege; strengthen thy fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar; make strong the brickkiln. 15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee like the canker-worm: make thyself many as the canker-worm; make thyself many as the locust. 16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm ravageth, and fleeth away. 17 Thy princes are as the locusts, and thy marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers, which encamp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
Nahum 3:14–17 — 1890 Darby Bible (DARBY)
14 Draw thee water for the siege, strengthen thy fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick-kiln. 15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee like the cankerworm. Make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locust. 16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants more than the stars of the heavens; the cankerworm spreadeth himself out and flieth away. 17 Thy chosen men are as the locusts, and thy captains as swarms of grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day: when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
Nahum 3:14–17 — GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)
14 Store water for the siege!
Strengthen your defenses!
Step into the claypits and trample the clay!
Grab the brick mold!
15 Fire will consume you there.
A sword will cut you down.
It will consume you like locusts.
Multiply like locusts!
Multiply like hungry locusts!
16 You have produced more businessmen than there are stars in the sky.
⸤They are⸥ like locusts that attack and then fly away.
17 Your officers are like locusts,
and your scribes are like swarms of locusts
that settle on the fences when it is cold.
The sun rises, and they scatter in every direction.
No one knows where they’ve gone.
Nahum 3:14–17 — The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
14 Draw water for the siege;
strengthen your fortresses.
Step into the clay and tread the mortar;
take hold of the brick-mold!
15 The fire will devour you there;
the sword will cut you down.
It will devour you like the young locust.
Multiply yourselves like the young locust,
multiply like the swarming locust!
16 You have made your merchants
more numerous than the stars of the sky.
The young locust strips the land
and flies away.
17 Your court officials are like the swarming locust,
and your scribes like clouds of locusts,
which settle on the walls on a cold day;
when the sun rises, they take off,
and no one knows where they are.
Nahum 3:14–17 — The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
14 Draw water for the siege,
strengthen your forts;
trample the clay,
tread the mortar,
take hold of the brick mold!
15 There 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!
16 You increased your merchants
more than the stars of the heavens.
The locust sheds its skin and flies away.
17 Your guards are like grasshoppers,
your scribes like swarms of locusts
settling on the fences
on a cold day—
when the sun rises, they fly away;
no one knows where they have gone.
Nahum 3:14–17 — The Lexham English Bible (LEB)
14 Draw water for a siege!
Strengthen your fortifications!
Go to the mud pit!
Trample the clay!
Grasp the brick mold!
15 There fire will consume you;
the sword will cut you off.
It will consume you like the locust.
Multiply yourself like the locust!
Multiply yourself like the grasshopper!
16 You have increased your merchants more than the stars of heaven;
like the locust they will shed their skin and fly away.
17 Your officials are like locusts;
your commanders are like a swarm of locusts.
They encamp on the walls on a cold day;
when the sun rises, they fly away—
no one knows where they have gone.
Nahum 3:14–17 — New International Reader’s Version (1998) (NIrV)
14 Prepare for the attack by storing up water!
Make your walls as strong as you can!
Make some bricks out of clay!
Mix the mud to hold them together!
Use them to repair the walls!
15 In spite of all of your hard work,
fire will burn you up inside your city.
Your enemies will cut you down with their swords.
They will destroy you
just as grasshoppers eat up crops.
Multiply like grasshoppers!
Increase your numbers like locusts!
16 You have more traders
than the number of stars in the sky.
But like locusts they strip the land.
Then they fly away.
17 Your guards are like grasshoppers.
Your officials are like large numbers of locusts.
They settle in the walls on a cold day.
But when the sun appears, they fly away.
And no one knows where they go.
Nahum 3:14–17 — New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (NASB95)
14 Draw for yourself water for the siege!
Strengthen your fortifications!
Go into the clay and tread the mortar!
Take hold of the brick mold!
15 There fire will consume you,
The sword will cut you down;
It will consume you as the locust does.
Multiply yourself like the creeping locust,
Multiply yourself like the swarming locust.
16 You have increased your traders more than the stars of heaven—
The creeping locust strips and flies away.
17 Your guardsmen are like the swarming locust.
Your marshals are like hordes of grasshoppers
Settling in the stone walls on a cold day.
The sun rises and they flee,
And the place where they are is not known.