Nahum 3

1 Woe to the city of blood, completely false and full of wrongdoing! Its prey will not be touched.

2 The sound of whips, the rumble of wheels, the horse in pursuit, the bounding chariot,

3 the charging rider, the gleaming sword, flashing weapons, a multitude of wounded, a crushing fall! There was no end to her nations, but they will grow weak in their bodies

4 because of her abundant prostitution. She is a beautiful, charming prostitute, a leader in sorcery, selling nations by her prostitution and peoples by her spells.

5 “Look, I am against you,” says the Lord God Almighty. “I will uncover your back before your face and show the nations your shame and the kingdoms your disgrace.

6 I will throw a detestable thing on you according to your uncleanness and make you an example.

7 Everyone who sees you will leap away from you and say,

“Poor Nineveh! Who will mourn for her? Where can I find anyone to comfort her?”

8 Prepare a portion and tune the string; prepare a portion, Amon, you who live among the rivers. Water surrounds her; the sea is her dominion, and water is her wall.

9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and there was no end to flight; Libyans became her helpers.

10 Yet she too will go away as a captive into exile. Her infants will be dashed down at the head of every street. They will cast lots for all her honored people, and all her nobles will be bound in chains.

11 You too will become drunk and be overlooked. You too will seek a place to stand because of your enemies.

12 All your fortresses are fig trees with watchmen. If they are shaken, the figs fall into the eater’s mouth.

13 Look, the people within you are like women. The gates of your land will be thrown wide open to your enemies, and fire will devour your bars.

14 Draw water for the siege. Secure your fortresses well. Step into the clay and trample the straw; make your fortifications stronger than brick.

15 There the fire will devour you; the sword will completely destroy you. It will consume you like a locust, and you will be weighed down like a crawling locust.

16 You multiplied your merchants beyond the stars of heaven. The crawling locust rushed in and spread out.

17 Your mixed multitude leaped away like grasshoppers, like locusts perched on a fence on a frosty day. When the sun rose, they flew away, and no one knew where they went. Woe to them!

18 Your shepherds have fallen asleep; the king of Assyria has put your mighty men to sleep. Your people have gone away to the mountains, and there is no one to receive them.

19 There is no healing for your fracture; your wound is inflamed. Everyone who hears the report about you will clap their hands over you, for who has not suffered under your constant evil?