Nahum 3

{But now listen as the enemy soldiers come to attack Nineveh!} Listen to them cracking their whips, and listen to the rattle of their {chariot} wheels! Listen to their galloping horses and their chariots as they bounce along! \*

Look at their flashing swords and glittering spears as the horsemen race forward! The enemy soldiers will kill many people of Nineveh. There will be piles of corpses, so many dead bodies that people will stumble over them. \*

All of that will happen because Nineveh is like a beautiful prostitute who attracts many men and destroys them, and who practices witchcraft. The people of Nineveh teach people of other nations to worship Nineveh’s idols. They control other people through witchcraft and cause them to become their slaves. \* 5 So God, commander of the angel armies, says to the people of Nineveh: “I am your enemy, and I will completely humiliate you in the sight of the people of other nations, just as people humiliate a woman who has committed adultery by lifting her skirt over her head so that people can see her naked body. People of other nations will be ashamed of you. 6 It will be as though I am throwing garbage on you; I will show others that I despise you very much, and I will cause everyone to publicly ridicule you. 7 All those who see you will run away from you and say, ‘Nineveh lies in ruins, but absolutely no one will mourn for it.’ People of Nineveh, no one will want to comfort you.” \* 8 Nineveh is not stronger than the city of Thebes was. Thebes was an important city beside the Nile River; deep water protected Thebes on all sides. 9 The rulers of Cush and Egypt helped Thebes; together they were very strong. The governments of the nearby countries of Put and Libya were also allies of Thebes. \* 10 Nevertheless, enemies conquered Thebes and took its people as captives. The enemies smashed the babies of Thebes to death in the streets. The enemies used marked stones to choose which officials they would take as slaves. The enemies led all of the leaders of Thebes away in chains. 11 You people of Nineveh will similarly become confused. You will search for places to hide from your enemies as they did. \* 12 When people want to eat the first figs, all they have to do is shake the fig tree and the figs fall into their mouths. Your enemies will capture your fortresses that quickly and easily. 13 Look at your soldiers! They are as weak as women! The gates of your cities will be wide open to allow your enemies to enter them, and your enemies will burn the beams {of those gates}. \* 14 {People of Nineveh,} store up water now to use when your enemies surround the city! Make your defensive buildings stronger! Dig up clay and trample it {to make it soft}; put it into molds to make bricks {to strengthen the walls}! 15 Nevertheless, your enemies will burn your city; they will kill you with their swords; they will kill you as locusts destroy crops. Increase your population like grasshoppers and swarms of locusts! \*

In your city there are now very many merchants; almost more than one could count. But {when your city is being destroyed,} they will take all the valuable things and quickly leave, like locusts that strip the leaves from plants and then fly away. 17 Your leaders are also like a swarm of locusts that crowd together on the stone walls on a cold day. When the sun shines, they fly away, and no one knows where they have gone. \* 18 King of Assyria, all of your important people will die. Your people will scatter to many different places in the mountains, and there will be no one to gather them together.

Nothing can help you now. You are like someone who has a fatal wound. All of those who hear about what has happened to you will {joyfully} clap their hands about it. They will do this because all of them have suffered from your continual evil actions.