LEB - Nahum - 3

3:1  Woe to the city that has shed ⌞much blood⌟! ⌞She is a deceiver⌟, She is filled with plunder, ⌞She has hoarded her spoils of war⌟.

3:2  The crack of the whip! The rumbling of the chariot wheel! The galloping of the horse! The racing of the chariot!

3:3  Chariots charge! Swords flash! Spears glitter! ⌞Many corpses are piled high⌟! There is no end to the slain! They stumble over their dead!

3:4  “Because of the many idolatries of the prostitute, the beautiful charm of a mistress of witchcraft, she who enslaves nations by her harlotries, and peoples by her sorceries,

3:5  “Look! I am against you!” ⌞declares⌟Yahweh. “I will strip up your skirts over your face; I will let nations look at your nakedness and your shame.

3:6  “I will throw filth upon you, I will treat you with contempt, I will make you a spectacle.

3:7  “And it will be that everyone who sees you will flee from you, And ⌞they⌟ will say, ‘Nineveh is destroyed!’ Who will mourn for her? From whence shall I seek comforters for you?”

3:8  Are you better than Thebes? She who sits at the Nile, surrounded by her waters, her rampart was the sea and water was her wall.

3:9  Cush was her strength, Egypt without end; Put and Libya were among ⌞your allies⌟.

3:10  Yet she went into captivity as an exile; her children were dashed to pieces at the head of the streets; they cast lots for all of her nobles; all of her dignitaries were bound with chains.

3:11  You also will behave like a drunkard; You also will hide yourself; You also will seek refuge from the enemy.

3:12  All of your fortifications are like fig trees with ripe firstfruits— if they are shaken, they will fall into the mouth of the eater.

3:13  Look! Your troops are like women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire will consume the bars of your gates.

3:14  Draw water for a siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Go to the mud pit! Trample the clay! Grasp the brick mold!

3:15  There fire will consume you; the sword will cut you off. It will consume you like the locust. Multiply yourself like the locust! Multiply yourself like the grasshopper!

3:16  You have increased your merchants more than the stars of heaven; like the locust they will shed their skin and fly away.

3:17  Your officials are like locusts; your commanders are like a swarm of locusts. They encamp on the walls on a cold day; when the sun rises, they fly away— no one knows where they have gone.

3:18  Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria! Your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains; no one can gather them.

3:19  There is no healing for your wound; your injury is fatal. All who hear the report of you will clap their hands for joy concerning you, ⌞For who has not suffered at the hands of your endless cruelty⌟?