Nahum 3

CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN	Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
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 full of lies and booty--no end to the plunder!
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 whip, and rumble of wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 throw filth at you and treat you with contempt, and make you a gazingstock.
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 And all who look on you will shrink from you and say, Wasted is Nineveh; who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for 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 Thebes that sat by the Nile, with water around her, her rampart a sea, 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, Egypt too, and that without limit; Put and the Libyans were her helpers.
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 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 Therefore, you also will become inebriated, and you will be despised, and you will seek help from the opposition.	11 You also will be drunken, you will be dazed; you will seek a refuge from the enemy.
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 like fig trees with first-ripe figs--if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater.
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 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 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 forts; go into the clay, tread the mortar, 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 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 have made more negotiations than there are stars in the sky. The beetle has spread out and flown away.	16 You increased your merchants more than the stars of the heavens. The locust spreads its wings and flies away.
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 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 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 Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on 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 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?