Nahum 3

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Disaster to the city of blood, packed throughout with lies, stuffed with booty, where plundering has noend!	1 Woe to the bloody city, all lies, full of plunder, whose looting never stops!
2 The crack of the whip! The rumble of wheels! Gal oping horse, jolting chariot,	2 The crack of the whip, the rumbling sounds of wheels; horses a-gallop, chariots bounding,
3 charging cavalry, flashing swords, gleaming spears, a mass of wounded, hosts of dead, countlesscorpses; they stumble over corpses-	3 Cavalry charging, The flame of the sword, the flash of the spear, the many slain, the heaping corpses, the endless bodies to stumble upon!
4 because of the countless whorings of the harlot, the graceful beauty, the cunning witch, who enslavednations by her harlotries and tribes by her spells.	4 For the many debaucheries of the harlot, fair and charming, a mistress of witchcraft, Who enslaved nations with her harlotries, and peoples by her witchcraft:
5 Look, I am against you!- declares Yahweh Sabaoth- I shal lift your skirts as high as your face and showyour nakedness to the nations, your shame to the kingdoms.	5 I am come against you, and I will strip your skirt from you; I will show your nakedness to the nations, to the kingdoms your shame!
6 I shal pelt you with filth, I shal shame you and put you in the pil ory.	6 I will cast filth upon you, disgrace you and put you to shame;
7 Then al who look at you wil shrink from you and say, 'Nineveh has been ruined!' Who wil mourn forher? Where would I find people to comfort you?	7 Till everyone who sees you runs from you, saying, "Nineveh is destroyed; who can pity her? Where can one find any to console 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 No-amon that was set among the streams, Surrounded by waters, with the flood for her rampart 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, and Egypt, and others without end; Put and the Libyans were her auxiliaries.
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, al her great men were put in chains.	10 Yet even she went captive into exile, even her little ones were dashed to pieces at the corner of every street; For her nobles they cast lots, and all her great men were put into chains.
11 You too wil become drunk, you wil go into hiding; you too will have to search for a refuge from theenemy.	11 You too, shall drink of this till you faint away; you, too, shall seek a refuge from the foe.
12 Your fortifications are all fig trees, with early ripening figs: as soon as they are shaken, they fall intothe mouth of the eater.	12 All your fortresses are but fig trees, bearing early figs That fall, when shaken, into the hungry mouth.
13 Look at your people: you are a nation of women! The gates of your country gape open to yourenemies; fire has devoured their bars!	13 See, the troops are women in your midst; to your foes the gates of your land are open wide, fire has consumed their bars.
14 Draw yourselves water for the siege, strengthen your fortifications! Into the mud with you, puddle theclay, repair the brick-kiln!	14 Draw water for the siege, strengthen your fortresses; Go down into the mud and tread the clay, take hold of the brick mold!
15 There the fire wil burn you up, the sword wil cut you down. Make yourselves as numerous as locusts,make yourselves as numerous as the hoppers,	15 There the fire shall consume you, the sword shall cut you down. Multiply like the grasshoppers, multiply like the locusts!
16 let your commercial agents outnumber the stars of heaven,	16 Make your couriers more numerous than the stars,
17 your garrisons, like locusts, and your marshals, like swarms of hoppers! They settle on the wal s whenthe day is cold. The sun appears, the locusts spread their wings, they fly away,away they fly, no one knowswhere. Alas,	17 your garrisons as many as grasshoppers, And your scribes as locust swarms gathered on the rubble fences on a cold day! Yet when the sun warms them, the grasshoppers will spread their wings and fly, and vanish, no one knows where.
18 your shepherds are asleep, king of Assyria, your bravest men slumber; your people are scattered onthe mountains with no one to gather them.	18 Alas! how your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria, your nobles have gone to rest; Your people are scattered upon 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 theirhands at your downfal . For who has not felt your unrelenting cruelty?	19 There is no healing for your hurt, your wound is mortal. All who hear this news of you clap their hands over you; For who has not been overwhelmed, steadily, by your malice?