Nahum, 3

1. Disaster to the city of blood, packed throughout with lies, stuffed with booty, where plundering has no end!

1. Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and booty -- no end to the plunder!

2. The crack of the whip! The rumble of wheels! Galloping horse, jolting chariot,

2. The crack of whip, and rumble of wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!

3. charging cavalry, flashing swords, gleaming spears, a mass of wounded, hosts of dead, countless corpses; they stumble over corpses-

3. Horsemen charging, flashing sword and glittering spear, hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end -- they stumble over the bodies!

4. because of the countless whorings of the harlot, the graceful beauty, the cunning witch, who enslaved nations by her harlotries and tribes by her spells.

4. And all for the countless harlotries of the harlot, graceful and of deadly charms, who betrays nations with her harlotries, and peoples with her charms.

5. Look, I am against you!- declares Yahweh Sabaoth- I shall lift your skirts as high as your face and show your nakedness to the nations, your shame to the kingdoms.

5. Behold, I am against you, says the LORD of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will let nations look on your nakedness and kingdoms on your shame.

6. I shall pelt you with filth, I shall shame you and put you in the pillory.

6. I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt, and make you a gazingstock.

7. Then all who look at you will shrink from you and say, 'Nineveh has been ruined!' Who will mourn for her? Where would I find people to comfort you?

7. And all who look on you will shrink from you and say, Wasted is Nin'eveh; who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for her?

8. Are you better off than No-Amon situated among rivers, her defences the seas, her rampart the waters?

8. Are you better than Thebes that sat by the Nile, with water around her, her rampart a sea, and water her wall?

9. In Ethiopia and Egypt lay her strength, and it was boundless; Put and the Libyans served in her army.

9. Ethiopia was her strength, Egypt too, and that without limit; Put and the Libyans were her helpers.

10. But she too went into exile, into captivity; her little ones too were dashed to pieces at every crossroad; lots were drawn for her nobles, all her great men were put in chains.

10. Yet she was carried away, she went into captivity; her little ones 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 too will become drunk, you will go into hiding; you too will have to search for a refuge from the enemy.

11. You also will be drunken, you will be dazed; you will seek a refuge from the enemy.

12. Your fortifications are all fig trees, with early ripening figs: as soon as they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.

12. All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs -- if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater.

13. Look at your people: you are a nation of women! The gates of your country gape open to your enemies; fire has devoured their bars!

13. Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your foes; fire has devoured your bars.

14. Draw yourselves water for the siege, strengthen your fortifications! Into the mud with you, puddle the clay, repair the brick-kiln!

14. Draw water for the siege, strengthen your forts; go into the clay, tread the mortar, take hold of the brick mold!

15. There the fire will burn you up, the sword will cut you down. Make yourselves as numerous as locusts, make yourselves as numerous as the hoppers,

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. let your commercial agents outnumber the stars of heaven,

16. You increased your merchants more than the stars of the heavens. The locust spreads its wings and flies away.

17. your garrisons, like locusts, and your marshals, like swarms of hoppers! They settle on the walls when the day is cold. The sun appears, the locusts spread their wings, they fly away,away they fly, no one knows where. Alas,

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, king of Assyria, your bravest men slumber; your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them.

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 remedy for your wound, your injury is past healing. All who hear the news of you clap their hands at your downfall. For who has not felt your unrelenting cruelty?

19. There is no assuaging your hurt, your wound is grievous. All who hear the news of you clap their hands over you. For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil?