The Wickedness of Nineveh
Nahum 3, verse 1. O city of blood, totally false and full of unrighteousness: the prey will not be touched. Nahum 3, verse 2. The cracking of whips and the sound of rumbling wheels, the galloping horses and bounding chariots, Nahum 3, verse 3. cavalrymen in full charge with the glistening of swords and the glittering of weapons, a multitude of wounded and of heavy falling; and there was no end to her nations, but they will be weak in their bodies Nahum 3, verse 4. because of the abundance of sexual immorality. She is a prostitute who is cultured and pleasing, skilled in the art of sorcery, selling the nations with her sexual immorality and the people by her sorceries. Nahum 3, verse 5. “Behold, I am against you,” says the Lord God Almighty. “I shall uncover your backside in your presence, and I shall make known your shame to the nations and your disgrace to the kingdoms. Nahum 3, verse 6. I shall cast abominable filth upon you according to your uncleanness, and I shall cause you to be a public example. Nahum 3, verse 7. And it will be that all who see you will turn away from you and say, ‘Wretched Nineveh, who shall lament her? Where shall I seek consolation for her?’” Nahum 3, verse 8. Prepare yourself a portion, tune the string of the lyre, and prepare a portion for Amon, the one dwelling by the rivers with the river round about her, whose dominion is the sea and the water her walls. Nahum 3, verse 9. Ethiopia is her strength, and Egypt as well, and there is no limit to her flight, and the Libyans became her helper. Nahum 3, verse 10. And she will go into captivity as a prisoner, and they will dash her infants to the ground at the heads of all the streets; they will cast lots over all her splendid things, and all her nobles will be bound in chains. Nahum 3, verse 11. And you will become drunk and be disregarded. You will seek for yourself a place of refuge from your enemies. Nahum 3, verse 12. All your strongholds are as fig trees having a watchman: if shaken, they will fall into the mouth of the eater! Nahum 3, verse 13. Behold, your people are as women among you. The gates of your land shall be wide open to your enemies, and fire will destroy the bars of your gates. Nahum 3, verse 14. Draw water for the siege and fortify your strongholds. Trample the clay and tread it with straw; make it stronger than brick. Nahum 3, verse 15. There the fire will devour you, and the sword will utterly destroy you. It will devour you as a locust, and you will be oppressed as a locust. Nahum 3, verse 16. You have multiplied your commerce beyond the stars of heaven; the locust has attacked and flown away. Nahum 3, verse 17. As a grasshopper, your crowd of half-breeds has suddenly left, as a locust perched on a hedge on a frosty morning; the sun rises and it flies away. It does not know its place. Woe to them! Nahum 3, verse 18. Your shepherds slumber; the king of Assyria put your nobles to rest; your people departed to the mountains, and there was no one expecting them. Nahum 3, verse 19. There is no healing your destruction. Your wound is festering. All those hearing the news of you shall clap their hands over you, for upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?