Read Amplified Bible, 2015 Nahum 3 Bible Online

Nahum 3 - Amplified Bible, 2015 bible

Nahum 3

¹Woe (judgment is coming) to the city of blood [guilty of murder and mayhem], completely full of lies and pillage; Her prey never departs [alive].

²The noise of the [cracking of the] whip, The noise of the rattling of the wheel, Galloping horses And rumbling and bounding chariots [in the assault of Nineveh]!

³Horsemen charging, Swords flashing, spears gleaming, Many slain, a mass of corpses, No end of corpses— The horsemen stumble over the corpses!

⁴All because of the many acts of prostitution of [Nineveh] the prostitute, The charming and well-favored one, the mistress of sorceries, Who betrays nations by her acts of prostitution (idolatry) And families by her sorceries.

⁵"Behold, I am against you," declares the LORD of hosts, "And I will lift up your skirts over your face, And I will let the nations look at your nakedness [O Nineveh] And the kingdoms at your disgrace.

⁶"I will throw filth on you And make you vile and treat you with contempt, And set you up as a spectacle.

⁷"And it will come about that all who see you Will shrink back and run from you and say, 'Nineveh is completely ruined! Who will grieve for her?' Where will I seek comforters for you?"

⁸Are you better than[1] Thebes, Which was situated by the waters of the Nile, With water surrounding her, Whose defense was the sea (the Nile), Whose wall consisted of the sea?

⁹Ethiopia was her strength, And Egypt too, without limits. [2] Put and Lubim were among her helpers.

¹⁰Yet she became an exile; She went into captivity. Her young children were dashed to pieces At the head of every street; They cast lots for her honorable men, And all her great men were bound with chains.

¹¹You too [Nineveh] will become drunk [with the cup of God's wrath]; You will be hidden. You too [Nineveh] will search [in vain] for a refuge from the enemy.

¹²All your fortresses are [nothing but] fig trees with ripe figs— When shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater.

¹³Behold, your people are [as weak and helpless as] women in your midst! The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies; Fire consumes the bars across your gates.

¹⁴Draw water for a [long, continued] siege! Strengthen your fortresses! Go down to the clay pits, trample the mortar! Prepare the brick kiln [to burn bricks for the rampart]!

¹⁵But there [in the very midst of these preparations] the fire will devour you; The sword will cut you down; It will devour you as the locust does. Multiply yourself like the creeping locusts; Multiply yourself like the swarming locusts.

¹⁶You have increased your traders more than the [visible] stars of heaven— The creeping locust strips and destroys and then flies away.

¹⁷Your guardsmen are like the swarming locusts. Your marshals are like the hordes of grasshoppers Settling in the stone walls on a cold day. When the sun rises, they fly away, And no one knows the place where they are.

¹⁸Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; Your nobles are lying down [in death]. Your people are scattered on the mountains And there is no one to gather them.

¹⁹There is no relief and healing for your hurt; Your wound is incurable. All who hear the news about you Clap their hands over [what has happened to] you. For on whom has your [unceasing] evil not come continually?