Nahum 3

Woe to Nineveh

¹Woe to the city of blood,

full of lies,

full of plunder,

never without victims!

²The crack of whips,

the clatter of wheels,

galloping horses

and jolting chariots!

³Charging cavalry,

flashing swords

and glittering spears!

Many casualties,

piles of dead,

bodies without number,

people stumbling over the corpses—

⁴all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute,

alluring, the mistress of sorceries,

who enslaved nations by her prostitution

and peoples by her witchcraft.

⁵“I am against you,” declares the Lord Almighty.

“I will lift your skirts over your face.

I will show the nations your nakedness

and the kingdoms your shame.

⁶I will pelt you with filth,

I will treat you with contempt

and make you a spectacle.

⁷All who see you will flee from you and say,

‘Nineveh is in ruins—who will mourn for her?’

Where can I find anyone to comfort you?”

⁸Are you better than Thebes,

situated on the Nile,

with water around her?

The river was her defense,

the waters her wall.

⁹Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength;

Put and Libya were among her allies.

¹⁰Yet she was taken captive

and went into exile.

Her infants were dashed to pieces

at every street corner.

Lots were cast for her nobles,

and all her great men were put in chains.

¹¹You too will become drunk;

you will go into hiding

and seek refuge from the enemy.

¹²All your fortresses are like fig trees

with their first ripe fruit;

when they are shaken,

the figs fall into the mouth of the eater.

¹³Look at your troops—

they are all weaklings.

The gates of your land

are wide open to your enemies;

fire has consumed the bars of your gates.

¹⁴Draw water for the siege,

strengthen your defenses!

Work the clay,

tread the mortar,

repair the brickwork!

¹⁵There the fire will consume you;

the sword will cut you down—

they will devour you like a swarm of locusts.

Multiply like grasshoppers,

multiply like locusts!

¹⁶You have increased the number of your merchants

till they are more numerous than the stars in the sky,

but like locusts they strip the land

and then fly away.

¹⁷Your guards are like locusts,

your officials like swarms of locusts

that settle in the walls on a cold day—

but when the sun appears they fly away,

and no one knows where.

¹⁸King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber;

your nobles lie down to rest.

Your people are scattered on the mountains

with no one to gather them.

¹⁹Nothing can heal you;

your wound is fatal.

All who hear the news about you

clap their hands at your fall,

for who has not felt

your endless cruelty?