Nahum 3 | New International Reader’s Version

The Lord will judge Nineveh

1 How terrible it will be for Nineveh! It is a city of murderers! It is full of liars! It is filled with stolen goods! The killing never stops! 2 Whips crack! Wheels clack! Horses charge! Chariots rumble! 3 Horsemen attack! Swords flash! Spears gleam! Many people die. Dead bodies pile up. They can’t even be counted. People trip over them. 4 All of that was caused by the evil desires of the prostitute Nineveh. That woman who practised evil magic was very beautiful. She used her sinful charms to make slaves out of the nations. She worshipped evil powers in order to trap others. 5 ‘Nineveh, I am against you,’ announces the LORD who rules over all. ‘I will pull your skirts up over your face. I will show the nations your naked body. Kingdoms will make fun of your shame. 6 I will throw garbage at you. I will look down on you. I will make an example out of you. 7 All those who see you will run away from you. They will say, “Nineveh is destroyed. Who will mourn over it?” Where can I find someone to comfort your people?’ 8 Nineveh, are you better than Thebes on the River Nile? There was water all around that city. The river helped to keep it safe. The waters were like a wall around it. 9 Cush and Egypt gave it all the strength it needed. Put and Libya also helped it. 10 But Thebes was captured anyway. Its people were taken away as prisoners. Its babies were smashed to pieces at every street corner. The Assyrian soldiers cast lots for all its nobles. They put them in chains and made slaves out of them. 11 People of Nineveh, you too will get drunk. You will try to hide from your enemies. You will look for a place of safety. 12 All your forts are like fig-trees that have their first ripe fruit on them. When the trees are shaken, the figs fall into the mouths of those who eat them. 13 Look at your troops. All of them are weak. The gates of your forts are wide open to your enemies. Fire has destroyed the bars that lock your gates. 14 Prepare for the attack by storing up water! Make your walls as strong as you can! Make some bricks out of clay! Mix the mud to hold them together! Use them to repair the walls! 15 In spite of all your hard work, fire will burn you up inside your city. Your enemies will cut you down with their swords. They will destroy you just as a swarm of locusts eats up crops. Multiply like grasshoppers! Increase your numbers like locusts! 16 You have more traders than the number of stars in the sky. But like locusts they strip the land. Then they fly away. 17 Your guards are like grasshoppers. Your officials are like swarms of locusts. They settle in the walls on a cold day. But when the sun appears, they fly away. And no one knows where they go. 18 King of Assyria, your leaders are asleep. Your nobles lie down to rest. Your people are scattered on the mountains. No one is left to gather them together. 19 Nothing can heal your wounds. You will die of them. All those who hear the news about you clap their hands. That’s because you have fallen from power. Is there anyone who has not suffered because of how badly you treated them?

English Standard Version

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?

Nahum 3 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

The Lord will judge Nineveh

Woe to Nineveh