The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Nahum 3
1 Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of
lies and robbery—no end to the prey.
2 The noise of the whip, the noise of the
rattling of wheels, prancing horses, and
bounding chariots,
3 the horseman charging, and the flashing sword,
the glittering spear, and a multitude of slain,
and a great heap of corpses,
and there is no end of the bodies.
They stumble on their bodies
4 because of the multitude of the
prostitution of the alluring prostitute, the
mistress of witchcraft, who sells nations
through her prostitution, and families
through her witchcraft.
5 “Behold, I am against you,” says Yahweh
of Armies, “and I will lift your skirts
over your face. I will show the nations
your nakedness, and the kingdoms your
shame.
6 I will throw abominable filth on you
and make you vile, and will make you a
spectacle.
7 It will happen that all those who look at
you will flee from you, and say, ‘Nineveh
is laid waste! Who will mourn for her?’
Where will I seek comforters for you?”
8 Are you better than No-Amon,† who
was situated among the rivers,‡ who had
the waters around her, whose rampart
was the sea, and her wall was of the sea?
9 Cush and Egypt were her boundless
strength. Put and Libya were her helpers.
10 Yet was she carried away. She went
into captivity. Her young children also
were dashed in pieces at the head of all
the streets, and they cast lots for her
honorable men, and all her great men were
bound in chains.
11 You also will be drunken. You will be
hidden. You also will seek a stronghold
because of the enemy.
12 All your fortresses will be like fig trees
with the first-ripe figs. If they are shaken,
they fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Behold, your troops among you are
women. The gates of your land are set
wide open to your enemies. The fire has
devoured your bars.
14 Draw water for the siege. Strengthen
your fortresses. Go into the clay, and tread
the mortar. Make the brick kiln strong.
15 There the fire will devour you. The
sword will cut you off. It will devour
you like the grasshopper. Multiply like
grasshoppers. Multiply like the locust.
16 You have increased your merchants
more than the stars of the skies. The
grasshopper strips and flees away.
17 Your guards are like the locusts, and
your officials like the swarms of locusts,
which settle on the walls on a cold day, but
when the sun appears, they flee away, and
their place is not known where they are.
18 Your shepherds slumber, king of Assyria.
Your nobles lie down. Your people
are scattered on the mountains, and there
is no one to gather them.
19 There is no healing your wound, for
your injury is fatal. All whohear the report
of you clap their hands over you, for who
hasn’t felt your endless cruelty?