Nahum

Woe to Nineveh

¹Woe to the city of blood,full of lies,full of plunder,never without victims! ²The crack of whips,the clatter of wheels,galloping horsesand jolting chariots! ³Charging cavalry,flashing swordsand glittering spears!Many casualties,piles of dead,bodies without number,people stumbling over the corpses – ⁴all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute,alluring, the mistress of sorceries,who enslaved nations by her prostitutionand peoples by her witchcraft. ⁵‘I am against you,’ declares the Lord Almighty.‘I will lift your skirts over your face.I will show the nations your nakednessand the kingdoms your shame. ⁶I will pelt you with filth,I will treat you with contemptand make you a spectacle. ⁷All who see you will flee from you and say,“Nineveh is in ruins – who will mourn for her?”Where can I find anyone to comfort you?’ ⁸Are you better than Thebes,situated on the Nile,with water around her?The river was her defence,the waters her wall. ⁹Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength;Put and Libya were among her allies. ¹⁰Yet she was taken captiveand went into exile.Her infants were dashed to piecesat every street corner.Lots were cast for her nobles,and all her great men were put in chains. ¹¹You too will become drunk;you will go into hidingand seek refuge from the enemy. ¹²All your fortresses are like fig-treeswith their first ripe fruit;when they are shaken,the figs fall into the mouth of the eater. ¹³Look at your troops –they are all weaklings.The gates of your landare wide open to your enemies;fire has consumed the bars of your gates. ¹⁴Draw water for the siege,strengthen your defences!Work the clay,tread the mortar,repair the brickwork! ¹⁵There the fire will consume you;the sword will cut you down –and it will devour you like a swarm of locusts.Multiply like grasshoppers,multiply like locusts! ¹⁶You have increased the number of your merchantstill they are more numerous than the stars in the sky,but like locusts they strip the landand then fly away. ¹⁷Your guards are like locusts,your officials like swarms of locuststhat settle in the walls on a cold day –but when the sun appears they fly away,and no one knows where. ¹⁸King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber;your nobles lie down to rest.Your people are scattered on the mountainswith no one to gather them. ¹⁹Nothing can heal you;your wound is fatal.All who hear the news about youclap their hands at your fall,for who has not feltyour endless cruelty?Footnotes for the Book of Nahuma In Hebrew texts 2:1-13 is numbered 2:2-14.b 3 Hebrew; Septuagint and Syriac ready; / the horsemen rush to and fro.c 7 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.