Nahum 3

Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;

1Trouble is coming to the city full of blood! It is full of lies and stealing. It never stops taking things from other people.

2The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.

2Listen! Whips crack. Wheels rumble. Horses gallop. Chariots bounce along the road.

3The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:

3Riders charge in with shining swords and spears. Piles of dead people lie everywhere. There is no end to the bodies. Soldiers trip over them.

4Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.

4This is happening because the city acted like a woman who sold herself to men. She was pretty, and she used magic tricks. She sold whole nations and families that way.

5Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.

5"Look, I am against you," says the LORD, the God who commands armies. "I will pull your skirt up over your face. The nations will see you with no clothes on. Every kingdom will see your shame."

6And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.

6"I will throw dirt and filth all over you. I will treat you as worthless. People will stand and stare at you."

7And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?

7Then everyone who sees you will back away. They will say, "Nineveh is destroyed. Who will cry for her?" Where can I find anyone to comfort you?

8Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?

8Are you better than the great city of Thebes? It sat beside the Nile river with water all around it. The water was like a wall keeping it safe.

NoteThe KJV calls this city "populous No." That was the Egyptian city of Thebes, a large, well-protected city that had already been beaten by an army.

9Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.

9Cush and Egypt made Thebes strong, and their strength seemed endless. Put and Libya helped her too.

10Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.

10But Thebes was still carried away. Her people were taken as prisoners. Her babies were killed at the top of every street. Soldiers threw lots to divide up her important men. All her leaders were tied with chains.

11Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.

11You will stumble too, like someone who drank too much wine. You will go and hide. You will look for a safe place away from your enemy.

12All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.

12All your strong forts are like fig trees full of ripe figs. Shake the tree, and the figs drop into the eater's mouth.

13Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.

13Look at the soldiers inside your city. They have become weak like women. The gates of your land stand wide open to your enemies. Fire burns up the bars that lock them.

14Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.

14Store up water, because an army will surround your city. Make your forts strong. Dig up clay, stomp the mud, and fix the brick oven.

15There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.

15But fire will burn you up there. The sword will cut you down. It will eat you like young locusts eat a field. Go ahead, grow as many as the locusts. Make yourself a huge swarm.

NoteThe KJV word "cankerworm" means a young locust. Locusts are insects that fly in huge swarms and eat every green plant in a field.

16Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away.

16You have more traders than there are stars in the sky. But young locusts strip the land bare and then fly away.

17Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.

17Your guards are like locusts. Your officers are like a big cloud of grasshoppers. They settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun comes up, they fly off. No one knows where they went.

18Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.

18King of Assyria, your shepherds are asleep. Shepherds here means the leaders who watch over your people. Your important men lie still in the dust. Your people are scattered over the mountains. No one brings them back together.

19There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?

19Nothing can heal the hurt you have. Your wound is very bad. Everyone who hears the news about you will clap their hands. They are glad you have fallen. Everyone has felt your cruelty, over and over.

NoteThe KJV word "bruit" simply means news or a report. To "clap the hands over" someone means to cheer because that person has fallen.