Nahum 3:8-19

English Standard Version

⁸^(A)Are you better than ^(B)Thebes^[a]
    that sat ^(C)by the Nile,
with water around her,
    her rampart a sea,
    and water her wall?
⁹^(D)Cush was her strength;
    Egypt too, and that without limit;
    ^(E)Put and the ^(F)Libyans were her^[b] helpers.

¹⁰^(G)Yet she became an exile;
    she went into captivity;
^(H)her infants were dashed in pieces
    at the head of every street;
for her honored men ^(I)lots were cast,
    ^(J)and all her great men were bound in chains.
¹¹^(K)You also will be drunken;
    you will go into hiding;
^(L)you will seek a refuge from the enemy.
¹²All your fortresses are ^(M)like fig trees
    with first-ripe figs—
if shaken they fall
    into the mouth of the eater.
¹³Behold, your troops
    ^(N)are women in your midst.
The gates of your land
    are wide open to your enemies;
    fire has devoured your bars.

¹⁴^(O)Draw water for the siege;
    ^(P)strengthen your forts;
go into the clay;
    tread the mortar;
    take hold of the brick mold!
¹⁵There will the fire devour you;
    the sword will cut you off.
    It will ^(Q)devour you ^(R)like the locust.
Multiply yourselves ^(S)like the locust;
    multiply ^(T)like the grasshopper!
¹⁶You increased ^(U)your merchants
    more than the stars of the heavens.
    ^(V)The locust spreads its wings and flies away.

¹⁷Your ^(W)princes are ^(X)like grasshoppers,
    ^(Y)your scribes^[c] 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.

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