Nahum 3:4-14

4 Nineveh the whore is being punished. Attractive and full of deadly charms, she enchanted nations and enslaved them.
5 The Lord Almighty says, "I will punish you, Nineveh! I will strip you naked and let the nations see you, see you in all your shame.
6 I will treat you with contempt and cover you with filth. People will stare at you in horror.
7 All who see you will shrink back. They will say, "Nineveh lies in ruins! Who has any sympathy for her? Who will want to comfort her?' "
8 Nineveh, are you any better than Thebes, the capital of Egypt? She too had a river to protect her like a wall - the Nile was her defense.
9 She ruled Ethiopia and Egypt, there was no limit to her power; Libya was her ally.
10 Yet the people of Thebes were carried off into exile. At every street corner their children were beaten to death. Their leading men were carried off in chains and divided among their captors.
11 Nineveh, you too will fall into a drunken stupor! You too will try to escape from your enemies.
12 All your fortresses will be like fig trees with ripe figs: shake the trees, and the fruit falls right into your mouth!
13 Your soldiers are helpless, and your country stands defenseless before your enemies. Fire will destroy the bars across your gates.
14 Draw water to prepare for a siege, and strengthen your fortresses! Trample the clay to make bricks, and get the brick molds ready!

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. enslaved; [or] seduced.
  • [b]. [Hebrew] Cush: [Cush is the ancient name of the extensive territory south of the First Cataract of the Nile River. This region was called Ethiopia in Graeco-Roman times, and included within its borders most of modern Sudan and some of present-day Ethiopia (Abyssinia).]
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.