Nahum3

¹Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. Its victim never departs.

²The noise of a whip And the noise of rattling wheels, Of galloping horses, Of clattering chariots!

³Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear. There is a multitude of slain, A great number of bodies, Countless corpses— They stumble over the corpses—

⁴Because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot, The mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations through her harlotries, And families through her sorceries.

⁵“Behold, I am against you,” says the Lord of hosts; “I will lift your skirts over your face, I will show the nations your nakedness, And the kingdoms your shame.

⁶I will cast abominable filth upon you, Make you vile, And make you a spectacle.

⁷It shall come to pass that all who look upon you Will flee from you, and say, ‘Nineveh is laid waste! Who will bemoan her?’ Where shall I seek comforters for you?”

⁸Are you better than No Amon That was situated by the River, That had the waters around her, Whose rampart was the sea, Whose wall was the sea?

⁹Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, And it was boundless; Put and Lubim were your helpers.

¹⁰Yet she was carried away, She went into captivity; Her young children also were dashed to pieces At the head of every street; They cast lots for her honorable men, And all her great men were bound in chains.

¹¹You also will be drunk; You will be hidden; You also will seek refuge from the enemy.

¹²All your strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs: If they are shaken, They fall into the mouth of the eater.

¹³Surely, your people in your midst are women! The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies; Fire shall devour the bars of your gates.

¹⁴Draw your water for the siege! Fortify your strongholds! Go into the clay and tread the mortar! Make strong the brick kiln!

¹⁵There the fire will devour you, The sword will cut you off; It will eat you up like a locust. Make yourself many—like the locust! Make yourself many—like the swarming locusts!

¹⁶You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of heaven. The locust plunders and flies away.

¹⁷Your commanders are like swarming locusts, And your generals like great grasshoppers, Which camp in the hedges on a cold day; When the sun rises they flee away, And the place where they are is not known.

¹⁸Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; Your nobles rest in the dust. Your people are scattered on the mountains, And no one gathers them.

¹⁹Your injury has no healing, Your wound is severe. All who hear news of you Will clap their hands over you, For upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?