Nahum 3

Nineveh’s Downfall

1 Woe to the city of blood,  * 3:1 Ezk 7:23; 9:9; 22:2–3; 24:6,9; Hab 2:12

totally deceitful,

full of plunder,

never without prey.  * 3:1 Nah 2:9

2 The crack of the whip

and rumble of the wheel,

galloping horse

and jolting chariot!  * 3:2 Jdg 5:22; Jb 39:24; Jr 47:3

3 Charging horseman,

flashing sword,

shining spear;

heaps of slain,

mounds of corpses,  * 3:3 Lv 26:30; Ps 110:6; Is 66:24; Jr 41:9; Ezk 6:5

dead bodies without end  * 3:3 Nah 2:9  —

they stumble over their dead.

4 Because of the continual prostitution of the prostitute,

the attractive mistress of sorcery,

who treats nations and clans like merchandise

by her prostitution and sorcery,  * 3:4 2Kg 9:22; Pr 7:10–23; Ezk 16:15; 23:1–21; Rv 17:3–6

5 I am against you.  * 3:5 Nah 2:13

This is the declaration of the  Lord of Armies.

I will lift your skirts over your face

and display your nakedness to nations,

your shame to kingdoms.  * 3:5 Is 47:3; Jr 13:22,26; Ezk 16:37; 23:29

6 I will throw filth on you

and treat you with contempt;  * 3:6 Ps 107:40; Is 16:14; Dn 12:2; Mc 6:16; Mal 2:3

I will make a spectacle of you.

7 Then all who see you will recoil from you, saying,  * 3:7 Dt 28:25,37; 2Ch 29:8; 30:7; Ps 31:11; Is 66:24; Jr 15:4; 24:9; 50:23

"Nineveh is devastated;

who will show sympathy to her? "

Where can I find anyone to comfort you?

8 Are you better than Thebes  * 3:8 Hb No-amon,* 3:8 Jr 46:25; Ezk 30:14–16

that sat along the Nile

with water surrounding her,

whose rampart was the sea,

the river  * 3:8 LXX, Syr, Vg read water,* 3:8 Lit sea from sea her wall?

9 Cush and Egypt were her endless source of strength;

Put and Libya were among her  * 3:9 Lit your  allies.

10 Yet she became an exile;

she went into captivity.

Her children were also dashed to pieces  * 3:10 2Kg 8:12; Is 13:16; Hs 10:14

at the head of every street.

They cast lots for her dignitaries,  * 3:10 Ob 11

and all her nobles were bound in chains.

11 You  * 3:11 = Nineveh also will become drunk;

you will hide.  * 3:11 Or will be overcome

You also will seek refuge from the enemy.

12 All your fortresses are fig trees

with figs that ripened first;

when shaken, they fall —

right into the mouth of the eater!

13 Look, your troops are like women among you;

your land’s city gates

are wide open to your enemies.

Fire will devour the bars of your gates.

14 Draw water for the siege;

strengthen your fortresses.

Step into the clay and tread the mortar;

take hold of the brick-mold!

15 The fire will devour you there;

the sword will cut you down.

It will devour you like the young locust.  * 3:15 Jl 1:4

Multiply yourselves like the young locust;

multiply like the swarming locust!

16 You have made your merchants  * 3:16 Ezk 16:29; 17:4; 27:3,13,20,23–24; Zph 1:11; Rv 18:3,11,15,23

more numerous than the stars of the sky.

The young locust strips  * 3:16 Or sheds its skin the land

and flies away.

17 Your court officials are like the swarming locust,

and your scribes like clouds of locusts,

which settle on the walls on a cold day;

when the sun rises, they take off,

and no one knows where they are.

18 King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber;  * 3:18 Jr 23:1–2; 50:6

your officers sleep.

Your people are scattered across the mountains  * 3:18 Ezk 34:6

with no one to gather them together.  * 3:18 1Kg 22:17

19 There is no remedy for your injury;

your wound is severe.  * 3:19 Jr 10:19; 14:17; 30:12

All who hear the news about you

will clap their hands because of you,  * 3:19 Ps 47:1; 98:8; Lm 2:15; Ezk 22:13

for who has not experienced

your constant cruelty?