> [[nahum-02|← Previous]] | [[nahum-00|TOC]] --- # Nahum, Chapter 3 ## Chapter 3 1 Ah! The bloody city, ^nahum-03-1 all lies, Full of plunder, whose looting never stops! 2 The crack of the whip, ^nahum-03-2 the rumbling of wheels; Horses galloping, chariots bounding, 3 Cavalry charging, ^nahum-03-3 the flash of the sword, the gleam of the spear; A multitude of slain, a mass of corpses, Endless bodies to stumble upon! 4 For the many debaucheries of the prostitute, ^nahum-03-4 a charming mistress of witchcraft, Who enslaved nations with her prostitution, and peoples by her witchcraft: 5 I now come against you— ^nahum-03-5 oracle of the LORD of hosts— and I will lift your skirt above your face; I will show your nakedness to the nations, to the kingdoms your shame! 6 I will cast filth upon you, ^nahum-03-6 disgrace you and make you a spectacle; 7 Until everyone who sees you ^nahum-03-7 runs from you saying, “Nineveh is destroyed; who can pity her? Where can I find any to console you?” ### Nineveh’s Inescapable Fate 8 Are you better than No-amon ^nahum-03-8 that was set among the Nile’s canals, Surrounded by waters, with the river for her rampart and water for her wall? 9 Ethiopia was her strength, ^nahum-03-9 and Egypt without end; Put and the Libyans were her allies. 10 Yet even she became an exile, ^nahum-03-10 and went into captivity; Even her little ones were dashed to pieces at the corner of every street; For her nobles they cast lots, and all her great ones were put into chains. 11 You, too, will drink of this; ^nahum-03-11 you will be overcome; You, too, will seek a refuge from the foe. 12 But all your fortresses are fig trees, ^nahum-03-12 bearing early figs; When shaken, they fall into the devourer’s mouth. 13 Indeed your troops ^nahum-03-13 are women in your midst; To your foes are open wide the gates of your land, fire has consumed their bars. 14 Draw water for the siege, ^nahum-03-14 strengthen your fortresses; Go down into the mud and tread the clay, take hold of the brick mold! 15 There the fire will consume you, ^nahum-03-15 the sword will cut you down; it will consume you like the grasshoppers. Multiply like the grasshoppers, multiply like the locusts! 16 You have made your traders more numerous ^nahum-03-16 than the stars of the heavens; like grasshoppers that shed their skins and fly away. 17 Your sentries are like locusts, ^nahum-03-17 and your scribes like locust swarms Gathered on the rubble fences on a cold day! Yet when the sun rises, they vanish, and no one knows where they have gone. 18 Your shepherds slumber, ^nahum-03-18 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 healing for your hurt, ^nahum-03-19 your wound is fatal. All who hear this news of you clap their hands over you; For who has not suffered under your endless malice? \* (3:5] – [6) The punishment for adulterous women. \* (3:8) No-amon: “No” was the Egyptian name of the capital of Upper Egypt, called Thebes by the Greeks; its patron deity was Amon. This great city was destroyed by the Assyrians in 663 B.C. \* (3:9) Put: a North African people often associated with Egypt and Ethiopia ([Jer 46:8] – [9]). \* (3:12) Early figs: the refugees from Nineveh who escape to presumably secure fortresses. \* (3:14) An ironic exhortation to prepare the city for a futile defense. Go down…brick mold: make bricks for the city walls. \* (3:16) Traders: agents of the economic exploitation that sustained and enriched the Assyrian empire. a. (3:1) [[isaiah-10|Is 10]]:13 – [14]; [Hb 2:12]. b. (3:4) [Mi 1:7]; [Rv 17:1]. c. (3:5) [Is 47:3]; [Jer 13:26]. d. (3:8) [Jer 46:25]. e. (3:11) [Jer 25:15] – [16]; [Ob 16]. f. (3:15) [Jer 46:23]. --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. > [[nahum-02|← Previous]] | [[nahum-00|TOC]]