Nahum 3

CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Woe to the city of blood, filled with all manner of lies and violence. Crime shall not depart from you:	1 Woe to the bloody city, all lies, full of plunder, whose looting never stops!
2 the voice of the whip, and the voice of the turning wheels, and of the neighing horse, and the burning chariot, and the horsemen who ride,	2 The crack of the whip, the rumbling sounds of wheels; horses a-gallop, chariots bounding,
3 and of the flashing sword and the shining spear, and of a multitude executed and a grievous ruination. Neither is there an end to the dead bodies, and they will fall down upon their dead bodies.	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 multitude of fornications of the kept woman, beautiful and pleasing and practicing evil deeds, who sold nations by her fornications, and families by her evil doing:	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 behold, I will come to you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will reveal your shame to your face, and I will show your nakedness to the Gentiles, and your disgrace to 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 And I will cast abominations over you, and I will afflict you with abuse, and I will make an example of you.	6 I will cast filth upon you, disgrace you and put you to shame;
7 And this shall be: everyone who sees you, will recoil from you, and he will say: “Nineveh has been devastated.” Who will shake his head over you? Where might I seek consolation for 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 than the populous Alexandria, which dwells along the rivers? Waters encircle it: the sea, with its riches. The waters are its walls.	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 Ethiopia and Egypt were its strength, and there is no limit. Africa and Northern Africa have been your helpers.	9 Ethiopia was her strength, and Egypt, and others without end; Put and the Libyans were her auxiliaries.
10 Nevertheless, she has been led away with the transmigration into captivity. Her little ones have been dashed in pieces at the top of every street, and they have cast lots over her celebrities, and all her elite have been fastened together in shackles.	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 Therefore, you also will become inebriated, and you will be despised, and you will seek help from the opposition.	11 You too, shall drink of this till you faint away; you, too, shall seek a refuge from the foe.
12 All your fortresses will be like fig trees with their green figs. If they are shaken violently, they will fall into the mouth of the one who devours.	12 All your fortresses are but fig trees, bearing early figs That fall, when shaken, into the hungry mouth.
13 Behold, women are at the center of your people. The gates of your land will be opened wide for your enemies; fire will devour your 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 in water because of the blockade; build up your fortresses. Go into the clay and tread; work it to make brick.	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, fire will devour you. You will perish by the sword; it will devour you like the beetle. Gather together like the beetle. Multiply like the locust.	15 There the fire shall consume you, the sword shall cut you down. Multiply like the grasshoppers, multiply like the locusts!
16 You have made more negotiations than there are stars in the sky. The beetle has spread out and flown away.	16 Make your couriers more numerous than the stars,
17 Your guardians are like locusts, and your little ones are like locusts among locusts, which alight on hedges on a cold day. The sun rose up, and they flew away, and there was no way to know the place where they had been.	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 have become drowsy, king Assur. Your princes will be buried. Your people have remained hidden in the mountains, and there is 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 Your destruction is not hidden; your wound is grievous. All who have heard of your fame have clenched their hands over you, because over whom has your wickedness not trampled continually?	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?