Nahum 3
Contemporary English Version
Punishment for Nineveh
The Lord said:
3 Doom to the crime capital!
Nineveh, city of murder
and treachery,
2 here is your fate—
cracking whips,
churning wheels;
galloping horses,
roaring chariots;
3 cavalry attacking,
swords and spears flashing;
soldiers stumbling
over piles of dead bodies.
4 You were nothing more
than a prostitute
using your magical charms
and witchcraft
to attract and trap nations.
5 But I, the Lord All-Powerful,
am now your enemy.
I will pull up your skirt
and let nations and kingdoms
stare at your nakedness.
6 I will cover you with garbage,
treat you like trash,
and rub you in the dirt.
7 Everyone who sees you
will turn away and shout,
“Nineveh is done for!
Is anyone willing to mourn
or to give her comfort?”
Nineveh's Fate Is Sealed
8 Nineveh, do you feel safer
than the city of Thebes?[a]
The Nile River
was its wall of defense.[b]
9 Thebes trusted the mighty power
of Ethiopia[c] and Egypt;
the nations of Put[d] and Libya
were her allies.
10 But she was captured and taken
to a foreign country.
Her children were murdered
at every street corner.
The members of her royal family
were auctioned off,
and her high officials
were bound in chains.
11 Nineveh, now it's your turn!
You will get drunk and try to hide
from your enemy.
12 Your fortresses are fig trees
with ripe figs.
Merely shake the trees,
and fruit will fall
into every open mouth.
13 Your army is weak.
Fire has destroyed the crossbars
on your city gates;
now they stand wide open
to your enemy.
14 Your city is under attack.
Haul in extra water!
Strengthen your defenses!
Start making bricks!
Stir the mortar!
15 You will still go up in flames
and be cut down by swords
that will wipe you out like a field
attacked by grasshoppers.
So, go ahead and increase
like a swarm of locusts![e]
16 More merchants are in your city
than there are stars
in the sky—
but they are like locusts
that eat everything,
then fly away.
17 Your guards and your officials
are swarms of locusts.
On a chilly day
they settle on a fence,
but when the sun comes out,
they take off
to who-knows-where.
18 King of Assyria,
your officials and leaders
are sound asleep,
while your people are scattered
in the mountains.
Yes, your people are sheep
without a shepherd.
19 You're fatally wounded.
There's no hope for you.
But everyone claps
when they hear this news,
because your constant cruelty
has caused them pain.
Footnotes
- 3.8 Thebes: In 663 b.c., the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal captured this Egyptian city, which seems to have been built with protection similar to that of Nineveh.
- 3.8 was its … defense: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 3.9 Ethiopia: The Hebrew text has “Cush,” which was a region south of Egypt that included parts of the present countries of Ethiopia and Sudan.
- 3.9 Put: A region in Africa, possibly part of the present country of Libya.
- 3.15 locusts: A type of grasshopper that comes in swarms and causes great damage to plant life.
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?
Nahum 3
Wycliffe Bible
3 Woe to the city of bloods, all of leasing, full of rending; raven shall not go away from thee. (Woe to the city of bloodshed, or to the murderous city, all of lies, full of tearing apart; all the spoils, or the prey, shall never be taken away from thee.)
2 Voice of scourge, and voice of rush of wheel, and of horse making noise, and of [a] four-horsed cart burning, (The sound of the scourge, and the sound of the rush of wheels, and of horses making noise, and of charging carts with four horses,)
3 and of knight going up, and of shining sword, and glistening spear, and of [the] slain multitude, and of grievous falling, neither there is end of carrions. And they shall fall together in their bodies, (and of horsemen going up, or mounting, and of shining swords, and of glistening spears, and of the slain multitude, and of grievous falling, and there is no end of corpses. Yea, they shall altogether fall, or shall stumble, over all the bodies,)
4 for the multitude of [the] fornications of the whore fair and pleasant, and having witchcrafts; which sold folks in her fornications, and families in her enchantments, either sorceries. (for the multitude of the fornications of Nineveh the whore, who is beautiful and pleasing, and useth witchcrafts; she who duped nations by her fornications, and families by her enchantments, or her sorceries.)
5 Lo! I to thee, saith the Lord God of hosts; and I shall show thy shameful things in thy face; and I shall show to folks thy nakedness, and to realms thine evil fame, either shame. (Lo! I am against thee, saith the Lord God of hosts; and I shall show thy shameful, or thy private, parts in public; yea, I shall show thy nakedness to the nations, and thy shame to every kingdom.)
6 And I shall cast out on thee thine abominations, and I shall punish thee with despites, and I shall put thee into ensample. (And I shall cast out upon thee thy abominations, and I shall punish thee with despising, and I shall make thee into an example.)
7 And it shall be, each man that shall see thee, shall leap away from thee, and shall say, Nineveh is destroyed. Who shall move head on thee? whereof shall I seek to thee a comforter? (And it shall be, that all who shall see thee, shall leap away from thee, and shall say, Nineveh is destroyed. Who shall shake their head in pity over thee? And now where shall I find a comforter for thee?)
8 Whether thou art better than Alexandria of peoples, that dwelleth in floods? Waters be in compass thereof, whose riches is the sea, waters be [the] walls thereof. (Art thou any better than Thebes, or No, of the peoples of Egypt, which is set by the river? Water is all around it, and its protection cometh from the sea, yea, the waters be its walls.)
9 Ethiopia is [the] strength thereof, and Egypt, and there is none end; Africa and Libya were in help thereof. (Ethiopia and Egypt were its strength, and there was no end to it’s power; Africa and Libya were its helpers.)
10 But and it in transmigration, or passing over, is led into captivity; the little children thereof be hurtled down in the head of all ways. And on the noble men thereof they cast lot, and all great men thereof be set together in gyves, either fetters. (But they were carried away into exile, and they were led off into captivity; its little children were hurtled down in the corners of all the streets. And they cast lots on its noble men, and all of its great men were placed in bonds, or in chains.)
11 And thou therefore shalt be drunken, and shalt be despised, and thou shalt seek help (because) of the enemy.
12 All thy strongholds be as a fig tree, with his figs unripe (All thy fortresses be like fig trees, with their ripe figs); if they shall be shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Lo! thy people be women in the middle of thee; the gates of thy land shall be showed to opening to thine enemies; fire shall devour thine hinges. (Lo! thy soldiers in thy midst be like women; the gates of thy land be wide open to thy enemies; and fire shall devour thy hinges.)
14 Draw up to thee water for asieging, build thy strongholds; enter in[to] fen, and tread, thou undergoing hold a tilestone. (Draw up for thyselves water for the siege, and build up thy fortresses; enter into the clay, and tread it, and form some bricks.)
15 There fire shall eat thee, thou shalt perish by sword, it shall devour thee, as bruchus doeth; be thou gathered together as a bruchus, be thou multiplied as a locust. (But even so, the fire shall still eat thee, and thou shalt perish by the sword, yea, it shall devour thee, like the bruchus doeth; be thou gathered together like the bruchuses, be thou multiplied like the locusts.)
16 Thou madest thy merchants more than be stars of heaven; a bruchus is spread abroad, and fly away. (Thou haddest more merchants, or more traders, than there be stars in the heavens; but now all of them be gone, like a bruchus that spreadeth its wings, and flieth away.)
17 Thy keepers be as locusts, and thy little children be as locusts of locusts, which sit together in hedges in the day of cold; (then) the sun is risen, and they fled away, and the place of them is not known, where they were. (Thy lords be like the locusts, and thy chiefs be like the grasshoppers, which sit together in hedges on a cold day; then when the sun is risen, they flee away/they fly away, and the place where they have gone is not known.)
18 Thy shepherds nap, thou king (of) Assur, thy princes shall be buried; thy people oft was hid in hills, and there is not that shall gather. (Thy shepherds nap, O king of Assyria, yea, thy princes, or thy leaders, now be buried; thy people be hid in the hills, and there is no one who shall gather them together, and lead them home.)
19 Thy sorrow is not privy, thy wound is worst; all men that heard thine hearing pressed together hand on thee, for on whom passed not thy malice evermore? (Thy sorrow shall never be assuaged, thy wound is the very worst it could be; all those who heard of thy news, or of thy fate, clapped their hands for joy over thee, for upon whom did not fall thy unceasing malice?)
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
2001 by Terence P. Noble