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          DASV: Nahum 3

1 Woe to the bloody city!
     It is all full of lies and plunder;
            the victims never end.
2 The crack of the whip,
     and the chariot wheels rumble,
            and horses gallop,
                  and the chariots lurch forward.
3 The horseman charge
           with flashing sword and glittering spear.
      Many are dead,
           there are countless corpses.
      They stumble over the bodies.
4 because of the multiplicity of her prostitution
            a seductive mistress of sorcery,
      who sells nations by her harlotry,
            and families through her witchcrafts.

5 "Look, I am against you," declares the LORD of hosts,
     "I will lift your skirts over your face;
      I will expose your nakedness to the nations,
            and to the kingdoms your shame.
6 I will hurl filth at you,
     and treat you with utter disdain,
            and make you a public spectacle."

7 Then all who look at you will shrink back from you, and say,
     "Nineveh is devastated.
           Who will grieve for her?
            Where can I find comforters for you?
8 Are you any better than Thebes,
     that was situated on the Nile River,
            the waters surrounded her;
            her rampart was the sea,
            and the water was her wall?
9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her limitless strength;
     Put and Lubim were her allies.
10 Yet she went into exile;
          she was taken into captivity.
      Her infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street;
           they cast lots for her nobility,
           and all her great men were shackled with chains.
11 You also will get drunk;
     you will go into hiding;
     you too will seek refuge from the enemy.
12 All your fortresses will be like fig trees with first-ripe figs;
     if they are shaken, they will fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Look, your warriors will be like women in the your midst;
     the gates of your land will be wide open to your enemies;
            the fire will devour your gates.
14 Draw water for the siege;
     strengthen your fortresses;
      go into the clay,
     and tread the mortar;
            take hold of the brick mold.
15 There will the fire devour you;
           the sword will cut you down.
      It will devour you like the locusts.
     Multiply yourself like the locusts;
            multiply yourself like the grasshopper.
16 You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of heaven;
     like locusts they strip the vegetation and then fly away.
17 Your courtiers are like locusts,
     and your officials like swarms of locusts,
      settling on the walls on a cold day,
     but when the sun rises they flee away,
            and no one knows where they have gone.
18 Your shepherds have fallen asleep, O king of Assyria;
     your nobles are lying down;
      your people are scattered on the mountains,
     and there is no one to regather them.
19 Your wound is incurable,
           your injury is fatal.
      All who hear the report about you
           joyfully clap their hands at your demise.
     For who has not escaped your endless cruelty?
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