Nahum 3
New King James Version
The Woe of Nineveh
3 Woe to the (A)bloody city!
It is all full of lies and robbery.
Its [a]victim never departs.
2 The noise of a whip
And the noise of rattling wheels,
Of galloping horses,
Of [b]clattering chariots!
3 Horsemen 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—
4 Because of the multitude of [c]harlotries of the [d]seductive harlot,
(B)The mistress of sorceries,
Who sells nations through her harlotries,
And families through her sorceries.
5 “Behold, I am (C)against 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.
6 I will cast abominable filth upon you,
Make you (E)vile,[e]
And make you (F)a spectacle.
7 It shall come to pass that all who look upon you
(G)Will flee from you, and say,
(H)‘Nineveh is laid waste!
(I)Who will bemoan her?’
Where shall I seek comforters for you?”
8 (J)Are you better than (K)No[f] Amon
That was situated by the [g]River,
That had the waters around her,
Whose rampart was the sea,
Whose wall was the sea?
9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength,
And it was boundless;
(L)Put and Lubim were [h]your helpers.
10 Yet she was carried away,
She went into captivity;
(M)Her young children also were dashed to pieces
(N)At the head of every street;
They (O)cast lots for her honorable men,
And all her great men were bound in chains.
11 You also will be (P)drunk;
You will be hidden;
You also will seek refuge from the enemy.
12 All your strongholds are (Q)fig trees with ripened figs:
If they are shaken,
They fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Surely, (R)your people in your midst are women!
The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies;
Fire shall devour the (S)bars of your gates.
14 Draw your water for the siege!
(T)Fortify 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 (U)locust.
Make yourself many—like the locust!
Make yourself many—like the swarming locusts!
16 You have multiplied your (V)merchants more than the stars of heaven.
The locust plunders and flies away.
17 (W)Your 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.
18 (X)Your shepherds slumber, O (Y)king of Assyria;
Your nobles rest in the dust.
Your people are (Z)scattered on the mountains,
And no one gathers them.
19 Your injury has no healing,
(AA)Your wound is severe.
(AB)All who hear news of you
Will clap their hands over you,
For upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?
那鸿书 3
Revised Chinese Union Version (Simplified Script) Shen Edition
3 祸哉！这流人血的城，
欺诈连连，抢夺充斥，
掳掠的事总不止息。
2 鞭声响亮，车轮轰轰，
马匹跳跃，战车奔腾；
3 骑兵争先，刀剑发光，
枪矛闪烁，被杀的甚多，
尸首成堆，尸骸无数，
人因尸骸而绊跌，
4 都因那美貌的妓女多有淫行，
惯行邪术，
藉淫行诱惑[a]列国，
用邪术诱惑万族。
5 看哪，我与你为敌，
掀开你的下摆，蒙在你脸上，
使列邦看见你的赤体，
使列国观看你的羞辱。
这是万军之耶和华说的。
6 我必将可憎污秽之物抛在你身上，
使你被藐视，为众人所观看。
7 凡看见你的，都必逃离你，说：
“尼尼微荒凉了！有谁为你悲伤呢？
我何处找到安慰你的人呢？”
8 你能胜过挪亚们[b]吗？
它坐落在众河之间，
周围有水，
海[c]作它的城郭，
海[d]作它的城墙。
9 古实[e]和埃及是它的力量，
没有穷尽，
弗[f]人和路比[g]人是它的帮手。
10 但它被流放，被人掳去，
它的婴孩也被摔碎在各街头；
人为它的贵族抽签，
它的权贵都被锁链锁住。
11 你也必喝醉，昏迷错乱，
并因仇敌的缘故寻求庇护。
12 你一切的堡垒必如无花果树上初熟的果子，
一经摇动，就落在想吃的人口中。
13 看哪，你中间的士兵是妇女，
你国中的关口向仇敌敞开，
你的门闩被火焚烧。
14 你要打水预备受困；
要加强防御，
取土踹泥，
做成砖模。
15 在那里，火要吞灭你，
刀必杀戮你，
如蝻子般吞灭你。
你人数增多如蝻子，
增多如蝗虫吧！
16 你增添商贾，多过天上的星宿；
如蝻子蜕皮飞去。
17 你的领袖多如蝗虫，
你的将军仿佛成群的蝗虫；
天凉时齐落在篱笆上，
太阳一出就飞去，
人不知道落在何处。
18 亚述王啊，
你的牧人睡觉，
你的贵族躺卧[h]，
你的百姓散在山间，
无人招聚。
19 你的损伤并未减轻，
你的伤痕极其重大。
凡听见这消息的人都因你拍掌。
有谁没有时常遭受你的暴行呢？
Nahum 3
The Voice
3 Hopelessness and despair,
that’s the destiny of the city that shed so much blood,
That perfected its use of lies,
that overflows with stolen treasures,
Leaving behind endless victims.
2 The sharp cracking of the whip in the air;
clattering of wheels on the streets;
Galloping horse hooves;
clanging, banging chariots;
3 Charging cavalry troops;
flashing swords and gleaming spears;
Armies of casualties, piles of dead bodies—too many to count—
so many you can’t walk without stumbling over them!
4 This is all because you tempted and lured the nations like a harlot,
dangling the allure of immorality.
You were a sorceress promising control of the spiritual world,
enslaving nations to lives of immorality and families to sorcery.
Nineveh is laid waste as God watches.
5 Eternal One: Look at Me and My armies.
I stand against you, Nineveh!
I will treat you like the harlot you are, lifting your dress over your face—
peeling back your outward façade
And exposing your true condition, your nakedness underneath.
You will be humiliated and ashamed in front of the world.
6 I’ll throw all your own filth on you.
I’ll treat you with contempt and make a humiliating public display of you.
7 Then the whole world will turn its back on you and flee, saying,
“Poor, pitiful Nineveh—you are totally ruined.”
Is there anyone who will sympathize with you?
Where will I find anyone to comfort you?
Nahum expresses God’s sentiment against Nineveh, and it is not attractive! The prophet uses graphic images to show how angry God truly is. If showing the nakedness of the Assyrian people to the nations is not demoralizing enough, then the shame of God throwing excrement at His enemies is unmistakable. The indignity of being stripped naked and covered in filth is the fullest expression of God’s rejection. While these images are disturbing, they are also typical of how powerful enemies, such as the armies of Nineveh, have treated their victims. Now the table is turned; the victor is now the victim. There is no one to comfort the Assyrian people: they are without a prophet; they are without a poet; they are without hope.
8 Are you any stronger than the city of Thebes[a] in its glory days?
Sitting at the edge of the Nile, its waters created a moat of protection on one side of her.
The Red Sea was a perfect defense against her eastern enemies,
As good as the protection of a wall.
9 The bounty of the regions of Cush and Egypt supported her, and
the areas of Put and Libya were her[b] strong allies.
10 Yet she was taken captive and exiled.
Her babies were broken to pieces at the crossroads of every street.
They tossed lots into a bag and drew out names to establish control of her honored men;
all her best and brightest were put in chains.
11 And just like them, you will go into hiding, getting drunk to escape your terror,
searching for some place to hide from your enemies.
12 But those strongholds, Nineveh, are easy pickings,
like figs on a tree when they first become ripe.
Just shake the tree,
and figs fall into your open mouth.
13 Look at your fierce troops surrounding you now.
They cower like untrained women, not battle-hardened warriors.
The gates that should have protected your land
instead are standing wide open.
Fire burns through the bars; your enemies stroll right in.
14 Draw up plenty of water to put out the fires,
and prepare, for your enemy will begin a siege.
Get busy working the clay and mud to make extra bricks;
you’ll need them to repair holes punched in your walls.
15 The attackers’ fire will consume you.
Their swords will cut you down,
And like grasshoppers attacking a field of grain,
they will totally consume you.
Like grasshoppers, multiply yourselves;
like locusts, make your numbers countless.
16 You brought so many merchants
till they are more numerous than the stars in the skies.
Like grasshoppers, they strip sustenance from the land,
only to fly away before justice can be sought.
17 Your courtiers are like locusts;
your city officials like swarms of locusts
Who become chilled against the wall on a cold day.
When the sun comes up and they are warmed,
They fly away, abandoning you.
Searching, no one can find them.
18 O king of Assyria, your shepherds felt safe enough to sleep in the fields.
Your leaders slept soundly in the city.
When judgment comes, your people are scattered like lost sheep,
far and wide among the mountains.
There is no leader left to rally them together.
19 Nothing and no one can heal your wound.
Your city’s wounds are fatal; you cannot survive.
Everyone who hears the news of your destruction
claps his hands in celebration,
Because who among them has not felt
your legendary and endless cruelty?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
和合本修訂版經文 © 2006, 2010, 2017 香港聖經公會。蒙允許使用。 Scripture Text of Revised Chinese Union Version © 2006, 2010, 2017 Hong Kong Bible Society. www.hkbs.org.hk/en/ Used by permission.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.