New King James Version

New Living Translation

The Woe of Nineveh

Woe to the bloody city!
It is all full of lies and robbery.
Its [a]victim never departs.

The LORD’s Judgment against Nineveh

What sorrow awaits Nineveh,
the city of murder and lies!
She is crammed with wealth
and is never without victims.

2

The noise of a whip
And the noise of rattling wheels,
Of galloping horses,
Of [b]clattering chariots!

2

Hear the crack of whips,
the rumble of wheels!
Horses’ hooves pound,
and chariots clatter wildly.

3

Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear.
There is a multitude of slain,
A great number of bodies,
Countless corpses —
They stumble over the corpses —

3

See the flashing swords and glittering spears
as the charioteers charge past!
There are countless casualties,
heaps of bodies —
so many bodies that
people stumble over them.

4

Because of the multitude of [c]harlotries of the [d]seductive harlot,
The mistress of sorceries,
Who sells nations through her harlotries,
And families through her sorceries.

4

All this because Nineveh,
the beautiful and faithless city,
mistress of deadly charms,
enticed the nations with her beauty.
She taught them all her magic,
enchanting people everywhere.

5

“Behold, I am against you,” says the Lord of hosts;
“I will lift your skirts over your face,
I will show the nations your nakedness,
And the kingdoms your shame.

5

“I am your enemy!”
says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
“And now I will lift your skirts
and show all the earth your nakedness and shame.

6

I will cast abominable filth upon you,
Make you vile,[e]
And make you a spectacle.

6

I will cover you with filth
and show the world how vile you really are.

7

It shall come to pass that all who look upon you
Will flee from you, and say,
‘Nineveh is laid waste!
Who will bemoan her?’
Where shall I seek comforters for you?”

7

All who see you will shrink back and say,
‘Nineveh lies in ruins.
Where are the mourners?’
Does anyone regret your destruction?”

8

Are you better than No[f] Amon
That was situated by the [g]River,
That had the waters around her,
Whose rampart was the sea,
Whose wall was the sea?

8

Are you any better than the city of Thebes,a
situated on the Nile River, surrounded by water?
She was protected by the river on all sides,
walled in by water.

9

Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength,
And it was boundless;
Put and Lubim were [h]your helpers.

9

Ethiopiab and the land of Egypt
gave unlimited assistance.
The nations of Put and Libya
were among her allies.

10

Yet she was carried away,
She went into captivity;
Her young children also were dashed to pieces
At the head of every street;
They cast lots for her honorable men,
And all her great men were bound in chains.

10

Yet Thebes fell,
and her people were led away as captives.
Her babies were dashed to death
against the stones of the streets.
Soldiers threw dicec to get Egyptian officers as servants.
All their leaders were bound in chains.

11

You also will be drunk;
You will be hidden;
You also will seek refuge from the enemy.

11

And you, Nineveh, will also stagger like a drunkard.
You will hide for fear of the attacking enemy.

12

All your strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs:
If they are shaken,
They fall into the mouth of the eater.

12

All your fortresses will fall.
They will be devoured like the ripe figs
that fall into the mouths
of those who shake the trees.

13

Surely, your people in your midst are women!
The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies;
Fire shall devour the bars of your gates.

13

Your troops will be as weak
and helpless as women.
The gates of your land will be opened wide to the enemy
and set on fire and burned.

14

Draw your water for the siege!
Fortify your strongholds!
Go into the clay and tread the mortar!
Make strong the brick kiln!

14

Get ready for the siege!
Store up water!
Strengthen the defenses!
Go into the pits to trample clay,
and pack it into molds,
making bricks to repair the walls.

15

There the fire will devour you,
The sword will cut you off;
It will eat you up like a locust.
Make yourself many — like the locust!
Make yourself many — like the swarming locusts!

15

But the fire will devour you;
the sword will cut you down.
The enemy will consume you like locusts,
devouring everything they see.
There will be no escape,
even if you multiply like swarming locusts.

16

You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of heaven.
The locust plunders and flies away.

16

Your merchants have multiplied
until they outnumber the stars.
But like a swarm of locusts,
they strip the land and fly away.

17

Your commanders are like swarming locusts,
And your generals like great grasshoppers,
Which camp in the hedges on a cold day;
When the sun rises they flee away,
And the place where they are is not known.

17

Your guardsd and officials are also like swarming locusts
that crowd together in the hedges on a cold day.
But like locusts that fly away when the sun comes up,
all of them will fly away and disappear.

18

Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria;
Your nobles rest in the dust.
Your people are scattered on the mountains,
And no one gathers them.

18

Your shepherds are asleep, O Assyrian king;
your princes lie dead in the dust.
Your people are scattered across the mountains
with no one to gather them together.

19

Your injury has no healing,
Your wound is severe.
All who hear news of you
Will clap their hands over you,
For upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?

19

There is no healing for your wound;
your injury is fatal.
All who hear of your destruction
will clap their hands for joy.
Where can anyone be found
who has not suffered from your continual cruelty?

Parallel

New King James Version

New Living Translation

Nahum 3

Nahum 3