- What sorrow awaits Nineveh, the city of murder and lies! She is crammed with wealth and is never without victims.
- Hear the crack of whips, the rumble of wheels! Horses' hooves pound, and chariots clatter wildly.
- See the flashing swords and glittering spears as the charioteers charge past! There are countless casualties, heaps of bodies— so many bodies that people stumble over them.
- All this because Nineveh, the beautiful and faithless city, mistress of deadly charms, enticed the nations with her beauty. She taught them all her magic, enchanting people everywhere.
- "I am your enemy!" says the Lord of Heaven's Armies. "And now I will lift your skirts and show all the earth your nakedness and shame.
- I will cover you with filth and show the world how vile you really are.
- All who see you will shrink back and say, 'Nineveh lies in ruins. Where are the mourners?' Does anyone regret your destruction?"
- Are you any better than the city of Thebes,[1] situated on the Nile River, surrounded by water? She was protected by the river on all sides, walled in by water.
- Ethiopia[2] and the land of Egypt gave unlimited assistance. The nations of Put and Libya were among her allies.
- Yet Thebes fell, and her people were led away as captives. Her babies were dashed to death against the stones of the streets. Soldiers threw dice[3] to get Egyptian officers as servants. All their leaders were bound in chains.
- And you, Nineveh, will also stagger like a drunkard. You will hide for fear of the attacking enemy.
- All your fortresses will fall. They will be devoured like the ripe figs that fall into the mouths of those who shake the trees.
- Your troops will be as weak and helpless as women. The gates of your land will be opened wide to the enemy and set on fire and burned.
- Get ready for the siege! Store up water! Strengthen the defenses! Go into the pits to trample clay, and pack it into molds, making bricks to repair the walls.
- But the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you down. The enemy will consume you like locusts, devouring everything they see. There will be no escape, even if you multiply like swarming locusts.
- Your merchants have multiplied until they outnumber the stars. But like a swarm of locusts, they strip the land and fly away.
- Your guards[4] and officials are also like swarming locusts that crowd together in the hedges on a cold day. But like locusts that fly away when the sun comes up, all of them will fly away and disappear.
- Your shepherds are asleep, O Assyrian king; your princes lie dead in the dust. Your people are scattered across the mountains with no one to gather them together.
- There is no healing for your wound; your injury is fatal. All who hear of your destruction will clap their hands for joy. Where can anyone be found who has not suffered from your continual cruelty?
Nahum 3
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