Nah 3 | HCSB | STEP | Woe to the city of blood , totally deceitful , full of plunder , never without prey .

‏ Nahum 3

Nineveh’s Downfall

1 Woe to the city of blood, ^a
totally deceitful,
full of plunder,
never without prey. ^b
2 The crack of the whip
and rumble of the wheel,
galloping horse
and jolting chariot! ^c
3 Charging horseman,
flashing sword,
shining spear;
heaps of slain,
mounds of corpses,
dead bodies without end ^d –
they stumble over their dead.
4 Because of the continual prostitution of the prostitute,
the attractive mistress of sorcery,
who betrays nations by her prostitution
and clans by her witchcraft, ^e
5 I am against you. ^f
This is the declaration of the Lord of ^{▼▼Hosts/hosts: Military forces consisting of God's angels, sometimes including the sun, moon, and stars, and occasionally, Israel}Hosts
.
I will lift your skirts over your face
and display your nakedness to nations,
your shame to kingdoms. ^h
6 I will throw filth on you
and treat you with contempt;
I will make a spectacle of you.
7 Then all who see you will recoil from you, saying,
“Nineveh is devastated;
who will show sympathy to her?”
Where can I find anyone to comfort you?

8 Are you better than Thebes ^{▼▼Or No-amon
,} ^j
that sat along the Nile
with water surrounding her,
whose rampart was the sea,
the river ^{▼▼LXX, Syr, Vg read water
,} ^{▼▼Lit sea from sea} her wall?
9 ^{▼▼Cush/ Cushite: The lands of the Nile in southern Egypt, including Nubia and Northern Sudan; the people who lived in that region}Cush and Egypt were her endless source of strength;
Put and Libya were among her ^{▼▼Lit your} allies.
10 Yet she became an exile;
she went into captivity.
Her children were also dashed to pieces ^o
at the head of every street.
They cast lots for her dignitaries, ^p
and all her nobles were bound in chains.
11 You ^{▼▼= Nineveh} also will become drunk;
you will hide yourself. ^{▼▼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;
the gates of your land
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. ^s
Multiply yourselves like the young locust,
multiply like the swarming locust!
16 You have made your merchants ^t
more numerous than the stars of the sky.
The young locust strips ^{▼▼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;
your officers sleep.
Your people are scattered across the mountains
with no one to gather them together. ^v
19 There is no remedy for your injury;
your wound is severe. ^w
All who hear the news about you
will clap their hands because of you,
for who has not experienced
your constant cruelty?