Nahum 3

‘It will be very bad for the city of Nineveh.

They have killed many people.

They are thieves, and the city is full of things

that they have taken from other people.

₂The enemies beat the horses with whips.

The wheels of their war-chariots

make a lot of noise.

The horses run fast, and the war-chariots are shaking.

₃The enemies are coming fast on their horses.

Their swords and spears shine in the sun.

They kill a lot of people.

The bodies of the dead men lie everywhere,

and people fall over those bodies.

₄Nineveh, this will all happen

because you are like a prostitute,

a beautiful woman

who has used magic and witchcraft.

You have taken other people

to become your slaves.

You took everything they had.’

₅The Lord says: ‘Now I am against you.’

The Lord who rules over all says:

‘I will do to you

what people do to a bad woman:

I will lift up your dress

so that other nations can see your naked body.

They will see that you are a bad woman.

₆I will throw rubbish and bad things on you,

and people will see how bad you really are.

They will laugh at you.

₇Everyone who sees you

will go away from you and say:

“Nineveh is destroyed.

No one will cry or mourn for you.”

There is no one who can comfort you.

₈Nineveh, you are no better

than the city of Thebes.

Thebes is next to the Nile River

and there is water around the city to protect it.

₉In the city there were soldiers

from the land of Cush and Egypt

and Put and Libya,

and that is why Thebes was so strong.

₁₀But the enemies caught

the people of Thebes

and took them away to another land.

The enemies killed the babies

in the streets, and they drew_lots to see

who would get an important person

to be his slave.

They tied the important people

with chains and took them away.

₁₁People of Nineveh,

you will not know where you are.

You will be like drunk men.

You will look for a place

where you can hide from your enemies.

₁₂All your strong buildings

are like ripe figs on a fig tree.

When you shake the tree,

the figs fall into your mouth.

That is how easily your enemies

will take your strong homes.’

₁₃Nineveh, your soldiers are worthless.

They are weak like women.

The gates of your city will be open.

Your enemies will burn

the doors of your gates.

₁₄You must get enough water and keep it

because your enemies will come.

They will wait around the city walls.

You must make the walls

of the city even stronger.

You must make bricks from clay.

₁₅You will burn in the fire.

Your enemies will kill you

like people kill locusts.

You have become as many as locusts.

₁₆Your merchants were more

than the stars in the sky

but they are gone now.

They are gone like locusts that have

flown away after they have finished eating.

₁₇The men who must guard the city

and the officials are like locusts

that fly to another place.

The swarms of locusts sit

on the stone walls when it is cold,

but when it gets hot, they fly away,

and no one knows where they have gone.

₁₈King of Assyria,

the leaders of your people are sleeping.

Your people have fled and they are

everywhere on the mountains.

There is no one who brings them back together.

₁₉Nineveh, the enemies will destroy you

and no one will build you again.

All the people will rejoice.

Everyone who hears

what has happened to you

will clap his hands

because you have done very bad

and cruel things to everyone.