NahumChapter 3

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¹How terrible it will be for the city of blood!
It is full of lies and full of stolen goods.
It never stops hunting for victims. ²Hear the crack of the whip and the rumble of wheels!
Hear the horses gallop and the chariots bounce! ³Horsemen charge.
Swords flash, and spears shine.
There are piles of the dead and heaps of bodies.
The dead bodies never end.
People trip over the dead. ⁴All this is because of the many acts of prostitution of the prostitute.
She is a charming woman who is a master of witchcraft.
She trapped nations with her prostitution.
She trapped whole families of people with her magic spells. ⁵"Look, I am against you," says the LORD of Hosts.
"I will pull your skirts up over your face.
I will show the nations your nakedness.
I will show the kingdoms your shame. ⁶I will throw filth at you.
I will treat you with disgust.
I will make you a show for all to stare at. ⁷Then all who see you will run away from you.
They will say, 'Nineveh is ruined. Who will cry for her?'
Where can I find anyone to comfort you?" ⁸Are you better than the city of Thebes?
It sat by the Nile River with water all around it.
The river was its protection.
The water was its wall. ⁹Cush and Egypt gave her endless strength.
Put and Libya were her helpers. ¹⁰Yet Thebes was taken away.
Her people went into captivity.
Her babies were smashed to death at the corner of every street.
Enemies cast lots for her important men.
All her leaders were tied up in chains. ¹¹Nineveh, you too will get drunk.
You will hide.
You will look for a safe place away from the enemy. ¹²All your fortresses are like fig trees with the first ripe figs.
When the trees are shaken, the figs fall right into the mouth of the one who eats them! ¹³Look at your soldiers.
They are as weak as your women!
The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies.
Fire burns up the bars of your gates. ¹⁴Get water for when the enemy surrounds you!
Make your fortresses stronger!
Work the clay and stomp the mortar.
Fix the oven for making bricks! ¹⁵But there the fire will burn you up.
The sword will cut you down.
It will eat you up like young locusts eat plants.
Multiply like young locusts!
Multiply like swarming locusts! ¹⁶You have made your traders more than the stars in the sky.
The young locust strips the land bare and flies away. ¹⁷Your guards are like swarming locusts.
Your officials are like clouds of locusts.
They rest on the walls on a cold day.
But when the sun comes up, they fly away.
No one knows where they went. ¹⁸King of Assyria, your shepherds are asleep.
Your officers sleep too.
Your people are scattered on the mountains.
There is no one to gather them. ¹⁹Nothing can heal your injury.
Your wound is very bad.
All who hear the news about you clap their hands at your fall.
For who has not felt your cruelty again and again?