Nahum 3

Modern

Literal

Judgment on Nineveh

¹Woe to the city of blood,

full of lies,

full of plunder,

never without prey.

¹Woe to the city of bloodshed. All of it is a lie, full of plunder—its prey does not depart—

²The crack of the whip,

the rumble of the wheel,

galloping horse

and bounding chariot!

²the voice of the whip, the voice of the rattling of the wheel, with galloping horse and bounding chariot!

³Charging horseman,

flashing sword,

shining spear;

heaps of slain,

mounds of corpses,

dead bodies without end—

they stumble over their dead—

³Horsemen are ascending with a flame of sword and flashing of spear, and the abundance of the slain, and the mass of the corpse—there is no end to the bodies—and they stumble over the bodies.

⁴because of the many harlotries of the harlot,

the seductive mistress of sorcery,

who betrays nations by her prostitution

and clans by her witchcraft.

⁴From the abundance of prostitutions of the prostitute, fine of favor, the mistress of sorcery, the one selling nations by her prostitution, and families by her sorcery.

⁵“Behold, I am against you,”

declares the LORD of Hosts.

“I will lift your skirts over your face.

I will show your nakedness to the nations

and your shame to the kingdoms.

⁵“Behold, I am against you,” a declaration of YHWH of Hosts, “And I will uncover your skirts over your face, and I will let see the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.

⁶I will pelt you with filth

and treat you with contempt;

I will make a spectacle of you.

⁶And I will cast upon you abominations and I will treat you with contempt, and I will set you as a spectacle!

⁷Then all who see you

will recoil from you and say,

‘Nineveh is devastated;

who will grieve for her?’

Where can I find

comforters for you?”

⁷And it will come to pass that all seeing you will flee from you, and will say, ‘Nineveh is devastated. Who will bemoan for her?’ From where should I seek comforters for you?”

⁸Are you better than Thebes,^a

stationed by the Nile with water around her,

whose rampart was the sea,

whose wall was the water?

⁸Are you better than Thebes, the city setting by the River, with the waters around her, whose rampart was the sea, and the sea her wall?

⁹Cush^a and Egypt were her boundless strength;

Put and Libya were her allies.

⁹Cush was her strength, and Egypt, and there was no end; Libya and Lubim came to be for your help.

¹⁰Yet she became an exile;

she went into captivity.

Her infants were dashed to pieces

at the head of every street.

They cast lots for her dignitaries,

and all her nobles were bound in chains.

¹⁰Yet she was as an exile; she went into captivity; even her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street, and over her honored ones they cast lots, and all her great ones were bound in chains.

¹¹You too will become drunk;

you will go into hiding

and seek refuge from the enemy.

¹¹Even you will become drunk; you will be hidden; you will even seek refuge from the enemy.

¹²All your fortresses are fig trees

with the first ripe figs;

when shaken, they fall

into the mouth of the eater!

¹²All your fortresses are fig trees with the first ripe figs; if they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the one eating.

¹³Look at your troops—

they are like your women!

The gates of your land

are wide open to your enemies;

fire consumes their bars.

¹³Behold, your people are women in your midst; the gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars.

¹⁴Draw your water for the siege;

strengthen your fortresses.

Work the clay and tread the mortar;

repair the brick kiln!

¹⁴Draw for yourself water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses; Go into the clay and tread on the mortar; take hold or the brick kiln.

¹⁵There the fire will devour you;

the sword will cut you down

and consume you like a young locust.

Make yourself many like the young locust;

make yourself many like the swarming locust!

¹⁵There the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you down; it will eat you up like the locust. Make yourself many like the young locust, make yourself many like the swarming locust.

¹⁶You have multiplied your merchants

more than the stars of the sky.

The young locust strips the land

and flies away.

¹⁶You have multiplied your merchants above the stars of the heavens; the young locust strips it and flies away.

¹⁷Your guards^a are like the swarming locust,

and your scribes^b like clouds of locusts

that settle on the walls on a cold day.

When the sun rises, they fly away,

and no one knows where.

¹⁷Your princes are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts of locusts, those camping on the fences on a day of cold; the sun has risen, and it flees away, and it is not known the place of it, where they are.

¹⁸O king of Assyria, your shepherds slumber;

your officers sleep.

Your people are scattered on the mountains

with no one to gather them.

¹⁸Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; your nobles are at rest; your people are scattered on the mountains, and no one is gathering them.

¹⁹There is no healing for your injury;

your wound is severe.

All who hear the news of you

applaud your downfall,

for who has not experienced

your constant cruelty?

¹⁹There is no easing of your injury; your wound is severe; all those hearing the report of you clap the hands over you. For upon whom has not your evil passed continually?