Nahum 2:4--3:19

2:4 The chariots race madly through the streets,

they rush back and forth in the broad plazas;

they look like lightning bolts,

they dash here and there like flashes of lightning.

2:5 The commander orders his officers;

they stumble as they advance;

they rush to the city wall

and they set up the covered siege tower.

2:6 The sluice gates are opened;

the royal palace is deluged and dissolves.

2:7 Nineveh is taken into exile and is led away;

her slave girls moan like doves while they beat their breasts.

2:8 Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days,

but now her people are running away;

she cries out: “Stop! Stop!” –

but no one turns back.

2:9 Her conquerors cry out:

“Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!”

There is no end to the treasure;

riches of every kind of precious thing.

2:10 Destruction, devastation, and desolation!

Their hearts faint,

their knees tremble,

each stomach churns, each face turns pale!

Taunt against the Once-Mighty Lion

2:11 Where now is the den of the lions,

the feeding place of the young lions,

where the lion, lioness, and lion cub once prowled

and no one disturbed them?

2:12 The lion tore apart as much prey as his cubs needed

and strangled prey to provide food for his lionesses;

he filled his lairs with prey

and his dens with torn flesh.

Battle Cry of the Divine Warrior

2:13 “I am against you!” declares the Lord who commands armies:

“I will burn your chariots with fire;

the sword will devour your young lions;

you will no longer prey upon the land;

the voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.”

Reason for Judgment: Sins of Nineveh

3:1 Woe to the city guilty of bloodshed!

She is full of lies;

she is filled with plunder;

she has hoarded her spoil!

Portrayal of the Destruction of Nineveh

3:2 The chariot drivers will crack their whips;

the chariot wheels will shake the ground;

the chariot horses will gallop;

the war chariots will bolt forward!

3:3 The charioteers will charge ahead;

their swords will flash

and their spears will glimmer!

There will be many people slain;

there will be piles of the dead,

and countless casualties –

so many that people will stumble over the corpses.

Taunt against the Harlot City

3:4 “Because you have acted like a wanton prostitute –

a seductive mistress who practices sorcery,

who enslaves nations by her harlotry,

and entices peoples by her sorcery –

3:5 I am against you,” declares the Lord who commands armies.

“I will strip off your clothes!

I will show your nakedness to the nations

and your shame to the kingdoms;

3:6 I will pelt you with filth;

I will treat you with contempt;

I will make you a public spectacle.

3:7 Everyone who sees you will turn away from you in disgust;

they will say, ‘Nineveh has been devastated!

Who will lament for her?’

There will be no one to comfort you!”

Nineveh Will Suffer the Same Fate as Thebes

3:8 You are no more secure than Thebes –

she was located on the banks of the Nile;

the waters surrounded her,

her rampart was the sea,

the water was her wall.

3:9 Cush and Egypt had limitless strength;

Put and the Libyans were among her allies.

3:10 Yet she went into captivity as an exile;

even her infants were smashed to pieces at the head of every street.

They cast lots for her nobility;

all her dignitaries were bound with chains.

3:11 You too will act like drunkards;

you will go into hiding;

you too will seek refuge from the enemy.

The Assyrian Defenses Will Fail

3:12 All your fortifications will be like fig trees with first-ripe fruit:

If they are shaken, their figs will fall into the mouth of the eater!

3:13 Your warriors will be like women in your midst;

the gates of your land will be wide open to your enemies;

fire will consume the bars of your gates.

3:14 Draw yourselves water for a siege!

Strengthen your fortifications!

Trample the mud and tread the clay!

Make mud bricks to strengthen your walls!

3:15 There the fire will consume you;

the sword will cut you down;

it will devour you like the young locust would.

The Assyrian Defenders Will Flee

Multiply yourself like the young locust;

multiply yourself like the flying locust!

3:16 Increase your merchants more than the stars of heaven!

They are like the young locust which sheds its skin and flies away.

3:17 Your courtiers are like locusts,

your officials are like a swarm of locusts!

They encamp in the walls on a cold day,

yet when the sun rises, they fly away;

and no one knows where they are.

Concluding Dirge

3:18 Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria!

Your officers are slumbering!

Your people are scattered like sheep on the mountains

and there is no one to regather them!

3:19 Your destruction is like an incurable wound;

your demise is like a fatal injury!

All who hear what has happened to you will clap their hands for joy,

for no one ever escaped your endless cruelty!