[Image: Introduction to Nahum]
NAHUM 3
Woe to Nineveh
[1] Woe to the bloody city,
all full of lies and plunder—
no end to the prey!
[2] The crack of the whip, and rumble of the wheel,
galloping horse and bounding chariot!
[3] Horsemen charging,
flashing sword and glittering spear,
hosts of slain,
heaps of corpses,
dead bodies without end—
they stumble over the bodies!
[4] And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute,
graceful and of deadly charms,
who betrays nations with her whorings,
and peoples with her charms.
[5] Behold, I am against you,
declares the LORD of hosts,
and will lift up your skirts over your face;
and I will make nations look at your nakedness
and kingdoms at your shame.
[6] I will throw filth at you
and treat you with contempt
and make you a spectacle.
[7] And all who look at you will shrink from you and say,
“Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her?”
Where shall I seek comforters for you?
[8] Are you better than Thebes
that sat by the Nile,
with water around her,
her rampart a sea,
and water her wall?
[9] Cush was her strength;
Egypt too, and that without limit;
Put and the Libyans were her helpers.
[10] Yet she became an exile;
she went into captivity;
her infants were dashed in pieces
at the head of every street;
for her honored men lots were cast,
and all her great men were bound in chains.
[11] You also will be drunken;
you will go into hiding;
you will seek a refuge from the enemy.
[12] All your fortresses are like fig trees
with first-ripe figs—
if shaken they fall
into the mouth of the eater.
[13] Behold, your troops
are women in your midst.
The gates of your land
are wide open to your enemies;
fire has devoured your bars.
[14] Draw water for the siege;
strengthen your forts;
go into the clay;
tread the mortar;
take hold of the brick mold!
[15] There will the fire devour you;
the sword will cut you off.
It will devour you like the locust.
Multiply yourselves like the locust;
multiply like the grasshopper!
[16] You increased your merchants
more than the stars of the heavens.
The locust spreads its wings and flies away.
[17] Your princes are like grasshoppers,
your scribes like clouds of locusts
settling on the fences
in a day of cold—
when the sun rises, they fly away;
no one knows where they are.
[18] Your shepherds are asleep,
O king of Assyria;
your nobles slumber.
Your people are scattered on the mountains
with none to gather them.
[19] There is no easing your hurt;
your wound is grievous.
All who hear the news about you
clap their hands over you.
For upon whom has not come
your unceasing evil? (ESV)
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