Nahum 3
Revised Geneva Translation
3 O bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. And its prey never departs:
2 the noise of a whip and the noise of the moving of the wheels and the beating of the horses and the leaping of the chariots.
3 The horseman lifts up both the bright sword and the glittering spear. And a multitude is slain, and the dead bodies are many. There is no end of their corpses. They stumble over their corpses,
4 because of the multitude of the fornications of the beautiful harlot, who is a mistress of witchcraft and sells the people through her whoredom and the nations through her witchcrafts.
5 “Behold, I come upon you,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and will uncover your skirts upon your face, and will show the nations your filthiness, and the kingdoms your shame.
6 “And I will cast filth upon you, and make you vile, and will set you as a spectacle.
7 “And it shall happen at that time that all those who look upon you shall flee from you, and say, ‘Nineveh is destroyed! Who will have pity upon her?’ Where shall I seek comforters for you?”
8 Are you better than No, who was full of people, which lay in the rivers and had the waters all around it, whose ditch was the sea, and her wall from the sea?
9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength. And there was no end. Put and Lubim were her helpers.
10 Yet she was carried away and went into captivity. Also, her young children were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets. And they cast lots for her noble men. And all her mighty men were bound in chains.
11 Also, you shall be drunk. You shall hide yourself and shall seek help because of the enemy.
12 All your strong cities shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs. For if they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Behold, your people within you are women. The gates of your land shall be opened to your enemies. The fire shall devour your bars.
14 Draw water for the siege. Fortify your strongholds. Go into the clay and temper the mortar. Make strong bricks.
15 There shall the fire devour you. The sword shall cut you off. It shall eat you up like the locusts. You are multiplied like the locusts, multiplied like the swarming locusts.
16 You have multiplied your merchants above the stars of heaven. The locust plunders and flies away.
17 Your princes are as the swarming locusts, and your captains as the great grasshoppers which remain in the hedges in the cold time. When the Sun rises, they flee away. And the place where they are is not known.
18 Your shepherds sleep, O king of Assyria! Your strong men lie down. Your people are scattered upon the mountains. And no man gathers.
19 There is no healing of your wound. Your plague is grievous. All who hear of you shall clap their hands over you. For upon whom has not your malice passed continually?
Nahum 3
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 3
1 Ah! The bloody city,
all lies,
Full of plunder,
whose looting never stops!(A)
2 The crack of the whip,
the rumbling of wheels;
Horses galloping,
chariots bounding,
3 Cavalry charging,
the flash of the sword,
the gleam of the spear;
A multitude of slain,
a mass of corpses,
Endless bodies
to stumble upon!
4 For the many debaucheries of the prostitute,
a charming mistress of witchcraft,
Who enslaved nations with her prostitution,
and peoples by her witchcraft:(B)
5 [a]I now come against you—
oracle of the Lord of hosts—
and I will lift your skirt above your face;
I will show your nakedness to the nations,
to the kingdoms your shame!(C)
6 I will cast filth upon you,
disgrace you and make you a spectacle;
7 Until everyone who sees you
runs from you saying,
“Nineveh is destroyed;
who can pity her?
Where can I find
any to console you?”
Nineveh’s Inescapable Fate
8 Are you better than No-amon[b](D)
that was set among the Nile’s canals,
Surrounded by waters,
with the river for her rampart
and water for her wall?
9 Ethiopia was her strength,
and Egypt without end;
Put[c] and the Libyans
were her allies.
10 Yet even she became an exile,
and went into captivity;
Even her little ones were dashed to pieces
at the corner of every street;
For her nobles they cast lots,
and all her great ones were put into chains.
11 You, too, will drink of this;
you will be overcome;(E)
You, too, will seek
a refuge from the foe.
12 But all your fortresses are fig trees,
bearing early figs;[d]
When shaken, they fall
into the devourer’s mouth.
13 Indeed your troops
are women in your midst;
To your foes are open wide
the gates of your land,
fire has consumed their bars.
14 Draw water for the siege,[e]
strengthen your fortresses;
Go down into the mud
and tread the clay,
take hold of the brick mold!
15 There the fire will consume you,
the sword will cut you down;
it will consume you like the grasshoppers.
Multiply like the grasshoppers,
multiply like the locusts!(F)
16 You have made your traders[f] more numerous
than the stars of the heavens;
like grasshoppers that shed their skins and fly away.
17 Your sentries are like locusts,
and your scribes like locust swarms
Gathered on the rubble fences
on a cold day!
Yet when the sun rises, they vanish,
and no one knows where they have gone.
18 Your shepherds slumber,
O king of Assyria,
your nobles have gone to rest;
Your people are scattered upon the mountains,
with none to gather them.
19 There is no healing for your hurt,
your wound is fatal.
All who hear this news of you
clap their hands over you;
For who has not suffered
under your endless malice?
Footnotes
- 3:5–6 The punishment for adulterous women.
- 3:8 No-amon: “No” was the Egyptian name of the capital of Upper Egypt, called Thebes by the Greeks; its patron deity was Amon. This great city was destroyed by the Assyrians in 663 B.C.
- 3:9 Put: a North African people often associated with Egypt and Ethiopia (Jer 46:8–9).
- 3:12 Early figs: the refugees from Nineveh who escape to presumably secure fortresses.
- 3:14 An ironic exhortation to prepare the city for a futile defense. Go down…brick mold: make bricks for the city walls.
- 3:16 Traders: agents of the economic exploitation that sustained and enriched the Assyrian empire.
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