Nahum 3

3:1

Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.

3:2

The crack of the whip, the rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!

3:3

Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end—they stumble over their dead—

3:4

because of the many harlotries of the harlot, the seductive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft.

3:5

“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.

3:6

I will pelt you with filth and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you.

3:7

Then all who see you will recoil from you and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated; who will grieve for her?’ Where can I find comforters for you?”

3:8

Are you better than Thebes, stationed by the Nile with water around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the water?

3:9

Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were her allies.

3:10

Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains.

3:11

You too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy.

3:12

All your fortresses are fig trees with the first ripe figs; when shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater!

3:13

Look at your troops—they are like your women! The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire consumes their bars.

3:14

Draw your water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Work the clay and tread the mortar; repair the brick kiln!

3:15

There the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you down and consume you like a young locust. Make yourself many like the young locust; make yourself many like the swarming locust!

3:16

You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips the land and flies away.

3:17

Your guards are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts that settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows where.

3:18

O king of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your officers sleep. Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them.

3:19

There is no healing for your injury; your wound is severe. All who hear the news of you applaud your downfall, for who has not experienced your constant cruelty?