Naum 3

¹ Woe to the bloody city! it [is] all full of lies [and] robbery;It never ceases to spoil and rob.the prey departeth not;

² The noise of a whip,He shows how the Chaldeans will hasten, and how courageous their horses will be in beating the ground when they come against the Assyrians.and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.

³ The horseman lifteth vp both the bright sword, and the glittering speare, and a multitude is slaine, and the dead bodyes are many: there is none ende of their corpses: they stumble vpon their corpses,

⁴ Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavouredHe compares Nineveh to a harlot, who by her beauty and subtilty entices young men, and brings them to destruction.harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.

⁵ Beholde, I come vpon thee, saith the Lorde of hostes, and will discouer thy skirtes vpon thy face, and will shewe the nations thy filthines, & the kingdomes thy shame.

⁶ And I will cast filth vpon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gasing stocke.

⁷ And it shall come to passe, that al they that looke vpon thee, shall flee from thee, and say, Nineueh is destroyed, who will haue pitie vpon her? where shall I seeke comforters for thee?

⁸ Art thou better than populousMeaning Alexandria, which had a compact of peace with so many nations, and yet was now destroyed.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?

⁹ Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and there was none ende: Put and Lubim were her helpers.

¹⁰ Yet was she caried awaye, and went into captiuitie: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streetes: and they cast lottes for her noble men, and al her myghtie men were bound in chaines.

¹¹ Also thou shalt bee drunken: thou shalt hide thy selfe, and shalt seeke helpe because of the enemie.

¹² All thy strong cities shall be like figtrees with the first ripe figs: for if they be shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.

¹³ Beholde, thy people within thee are women: the gates of thy land shalbe opened vnto thine enemies, and ye fire shall deuoure thy barres.

¹⁴ Drawe thee waters for the siege: fortifie thy strong holdes: go into the clay, and temper the morter: make strong bricke.

¹⁵ There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like theSignifying that God's judgments would suddenly destroy the Assyrians, as these vermin do with rain or change of weather.cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.

¹⁶ Thou hast multiplied thy marchantes aboue the starres of heauen: the locust spoileth and flyeth away.

¹⁷ Thy princes are as the grashoppers, and thy captaines as the great grashoppers which remaine in the hedges in the colde day: but when the sunne ariseth, they flee away and their place is not knowen where they are.

¹⁸ ThyYour princes and counsellors.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].

¹⁹ [There is] no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for uponMeaning that the Assyrians had done hurt to all people.whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?