Nahum 3
Living Bible
3 Woe to Nineveh, City of Blood, full of lies, crammed with plunder. 2 Listen! Hear the crack of the whips as the chariots rush forward against her, wheels rumbling, horses’ hoofs pounding, and chariots clattering as they bump wildly through the streets! 3 See the flashing swords and glittering spears in the upraised arms of the cavalry! The dead are lying in the streets—bodies, heaps of bodies, everywhere. Men stumble over them, scramble to their feet, and fall again.
4 All this because Nineveh sold herself to the enemies of God. The beautiful and faithless city, mistress of deadly charms, enticed the nations with her beauty, then taught them all to worship her false gods,[a] bewitching people everywhere.
5 “No wonder I stand against you,” says the Lord Almighty; “and now all the earth will see your nakedness and shame. 6 I will cover you with filth and show the world how really vile you are.” 7 All who see you will shrink back in horror: “Nineveh lies in utter ruin.” Yet no one anywhere regrets your fate!
8 Are you any better than Thebes,[b] straddling the Nile, protected on all sides by the river? 9 Ethiopia and the whole land of Egypt were her mighty allies, and she could call on them for infinite assistance, as well as Put and Libya. 10 Yet Thebes fell and her people were led off as slaves; her babies were dashed to death against the stones of the streets. Soldiers drew straws to see who would get her officers as servants. All her leaders were bound in chains.
11 Nineveh, too, will stagger like a drunkard and hide herself in fear. 12 All your forts will fall. They will be devoured like first-ripe figs that fall into the mouths of those who shake the trees. 13 Your troops will be weak and helpless as women. The gates of your land will be opened wide to the enemy and set on fire and burned. 14 Get ready for the siege! Store up water! Strengthen the forts! Prepare many bricks for repairing your walls! Go into the pits to trample the clay, and pack it in the molds!
15 But in the middle of your preparations, the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you down; the enemy will consume you like young locusts that eat up everything before them. There is no escape, though you multiply like grasshoppers. 16 Merchants, numerous as stars, filled your city with vast wealth, but your enemies swarm like locusts and carry it away. 17 Your princes and officials crowd together like grasshoppers in the hedges in the cold, but all of them will flee away and disappear, like locusts when the sun comes up and warms the earth.
18 O Assyrian king, your princes lie dead in the dust; your people are scattered across the mountains; there is no shepherd now to gather them. 19 There is no healing for your wound—it is far too deep to cure. All who hear your fate will clap their hands for joy, for where can one be found who has not suffered from your cruelty?
Nahum 3
International Children’s Bible
It Will Be Terrible for Nineveh
3 How terrible it will be for the city which has killed so many.
It is full of lies.
It is full of stolen things from other countries.
It is always hurting or killing somebody.
2 Hear the sound of whips.
Listen to the wheels.
Hear horses galloping
and chariots bouncing along!
3 Soldiers on horses are charging.
Their swords are shining.
Their spears are gleaming!
There are many bodies.
Dead people are piled up.
There are too many to count.
People fall over the dead bodies.
4 The city was like a prostitute.
She was charming and a lover of magic.
She made nations slaves with her evil ways
and her witchcraft.
5 “I am against you, Nineveh,” says the Lord of heaven’s armies.
“I will pull your dress up over your face.
I will show the nations your nakedness.
And I will show the kingdoms your shame.
6 I will throw dirt on you.
I will make a fool of you.
People will see you and make fun of you.
7 Everyone who sees you will run away and say,
‘Nineveh is in ruins. Who will cry for her?’
Nineveh, I cannot find anyone to comfort you.”
8 Nineveh, you are no better than Thebes.[a]
She sits by the Nile River
with water all around her.
The river was her defense.
The waters were like a wall around her.
9 Cush and Egypt gave her endless strength.
Put and Libya supported her.
10 But Thebes was captured.
And she went into captivity.
Her small children were beaten to death
at every street corner.
Lots were thrown for her important men.
And all of her leaders were put in chains.
11 Nineveh, you will be drunk, too.
You will hide.
You will look for a place safe from the enemy.
12 All your defenses are like fig trees with ripe fruit.
When the tree is shaken, the figs fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Look at your soldiers.
They are all women!
The gates of your land
are wide open for your enemies.
Fire has burned the bars of those gates.
14 Get enough water before the attack begins.
Make your defenses strong!
Make the bricks.
Mix the mortar.
Repair the wall!
15 There the fire will burn you up.
The sword will kill you.
Like grasshoppers eating crops, the battle will completely destroy you.
Grow in number like hopping locusts.
Grow in number like swarming locusts!
16 Your traders are more than the stars in the sky.
But like locusts, they strip the land and then fly away.
17 Your guards are like locusts.
Your officers are like swarms of locusts
that settle in the walls on a cold day.
But when the sun comes up they fly away.
And no one knows where they have gone.
18 King of Assyria, your rulers are asleep.
Your important men lie down to rest.
Your people have been scattered on the mountains.
And there is no one to bring them back.
19 Nothing can heal your wound.
Your injury will not heal.
Everyone who hears about you applauds
because everyone has felt your endless cruelty.
Footnotes
- 3:8 Thebes A great city in Egypt.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
