Nahum 3

The Woe of Nineveh

3Woe to the ^abloody city!

It is all full of lies and robbery.

Its ¹victim never departs.

²The noise of a whip

And the noise of rattling wheels,

Of galloping horses,

Of ²clattering chariots!

³Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear.

There is a multitude of slain,

A great number of bodies,

Countless corpses—

They stumble over the corpses—

⁴Because of the multitude of ³harlotries of the ⁴seductive harlot,

^bThe mistress of sorceries,

Who sells nations through her harlotries,

And families through her sorceries.

⁵“Behold, I am ^cagainst you,” says the Lord of hosts;

^d“I will lift your skirts over your face,

I will show the nations your nakedness,

And the kingdoms your shame.

⁶I will cast abominable filth upon you,

Make you ^evile, ⁵

And make you ^fa spectacle.

⁷It shall come to pass that all who look upon you

^gWill flee from you, and say,

^h‘Nineveh is laid waste!

ⁱWho will bemoan her?’

Where shall I seek comforters for you?”

^8jAre you better than ^kNo ⁶Amon

That was situated by the ⁷River,

That had the waters around her,

Whose rampart was the sea,

Whose wall was the sea?

⁹Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength,

And it was boundless;

^lPut and Lubim were ⁸your helpers.

¹⁰Yet she was carried away,

She went into captivity;

^mHer young children also were dashed to pieces

ⁿAt the head of every street;

They ^ocast lots for her honorable men,

And all her great men were bound in chains.

¹¹You also will be ^pdrunk;

You will be hidden;

You also will seek refuge from the enemy.

¹²All your strongholds are ^qfig trees with ripened figs:

If they are shaken,

They fall into the mouth of the eater.

¹³Surely, ^ryour people in your midst are women!

The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies;

Fire shall devour the ^sbars of your gates.

¹⁴Draw your water for the siege!

^tFortify your strongholds!

Go into the clay and tread the mortar!

Make strong the brick kiln!

¹⁵There 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!

¹⁶You have multiplied your ^vmerchants more than the stars of heaven.

The locust plunders and flies away.

^17wYour 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.

^18xYour shepherds slumber, O ^yking of Assyria;

Your nobles rest in the dust.

Your people are ^zscattered on the mountains,

And no one gathers them.

¹⁹Your injury has no healing,

^aYour wound is severe.

^bAll who hear news of you

Will clap their hands over you,

For upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?