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Ruin Imminent and Inevitable

Woe to the bloody city,
all full of lies and booty—
    no end to the plunder!
The crack of whip, and rumble of wheel,
    galloping horse and bounding chariot!
Horsemen charging,
    flashing sword and glittering spear,
hosts of slain,
    heaps of corpses,
dead bodies without end—
    they stumble over the bodies!
And all for the countless harlotries of the harlot,
    graceful and of deadly charms,
who betrays nations with her harlotries,
    and peoples with her charms.

Behold, I am against you,
    says the Lord of hosts,
    and will lift up your skirts over your face;
and I will let nations look on your nakedness
    and kingdoms on your shame.
I will throw filth at you
    and treat you with contempt,
    and make you a gazingstock.
And all who look on you will shrink from you and say,
Wasted is Nin′eveh; who will bemoan her?
    whence shall I seek comforters for her?[a]

Are you better than Thebes[b]
    that sat by the Nile,
with water around her,
    her rampart a sea,
    and water her wall?
Ethiopia was her strength,
    Egypt too, and that without limit;
    Put and the Libyans were her[c] helpers.

10 Yet she was carried away,
    she went into captivity;
her little ones were dashed in pieces
    at the head of every street;
for her honored men lots were cast,
    and all her great men were bound in chains.
11 You also will be drunken,
    you will be dazed;
you will seek
    a refuge from the enemy.
12 All your fortresses are like fig trees
    with first-ripe figs—
if shaken they fall
    into the mouth of the eater.
13 Behold, your troops
    are women in your midst.
The gates of your land
    are wide open to your foes;
    fire has devoured your bars.

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[d] 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.

18 Your shepherds are asleep,
    O king of Assyria;
    your nobles slumber.
Your people are scattered on the mountains
    with none to gather them.
19 There is no assuaging your hurt,
    your wound is grievous.
All who hear the news of you
    clap their hands over you.
For upon whom has not come
    your unceasing evil?

Footnotes

  1. Nahum 3:7 Gk: Heb you
  2. Nahum 3:8 Heb No-amon
  3. Nahum 3:9 Gk: Heb your
  4. Nahum 3:17 Or marshals

Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and rapine; the prey departeth not. The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses, and bounding chariots, the horseman [a]mounting, and the flashing sword, and the glittering spear, and a multitude of slain, and a great heap of corpses, and there is no end of the bodies; they stumble upon their bodies;— because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will uncover thy skirts [b]upon thy face; and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?

Art thou better than No-amon, that was situate among the [c]rivers, that had the waters round about her; whose rampart was [d]the sea, and her wall was of the sea? Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. 10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity; her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. 11 Thou also shalt be drunken; thou shalt be hid; thou also shalt seek [e]a stronghold because of the enemy. 12 All thy fortresses shall be like fig-trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. 13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women; the gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire hath devoured thy bars. 14 Draw thee water for the siege; strengthen thy fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar; [f]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 [g]ravageth, and fleeth away. 17 Thy princes are as the locusts, and thy [h]marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers, which encamp in the [i]hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. 18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy nobles are at rest; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and there is none to gather them. 19 There is no assuaging of thy hurt; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the report of thee clap their hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?

Footnotes

  1. Nahum 3:3 Or, charging
  2. Nahum 3:5 Or, before
  3. Nahum 3:8 Or, canals. See Ex. 7:19.
  4. Nahum 3:8 That is, the Nile
  5. Nahum 3:11 Or, a defence against
  6. Nahum 3:14 Or, lay hold of the brick-mould
  7. Nahum 3:16 Or, spreadeth himself
  8. Nahum 3:17 Or, scribes
  9. Nahum 3:17 Or, walls