Woe to Nineveh

Nahum 3

1 Woe to p the bloody city,
all full of lies and plunder -
q no end to the prey!
 2 The crack of the whip, and r rumble of the wheel,
s galloping horse and t bounding chariot!
 3 Horsemen charging,
flashing sword and u glittering spear,
v hosts of slain,
heaps of corpses,
dead bodies without end -
they stumble over the bodies!
 4 And all for the countless whorings of the w prostitute,
x graceful and of deadly charms,
who betrays nations with her whorings,
and peoples with her charms.

5 m Behold, I am against you,
declares the Lord of hosts,
and y will lift up your skirts over your face;
and I will make nations look at z your nakedness
and kingdoms at your shame.
 6 I will throw filth at you
and a treat you with contempt
and make you b a spectacle.
 7 And all who look at you c will shrink from you and say,
Wasted is d Nineveh; e who will grieve for her?
f Where shall I seek comforters for you?

8 g Are you better than h Thebes 1
that sat i by the Nile,
with water around her,
her rampart a sea,
and water her wall?
 9 j Cush was her strength;
Egypt too, and that without limit;
k Put and the l Libyans were her 2 helpers.

10 m Yet she became an exile;
she went into captivity;
n her infants were dashed in pieces
at the head of every street;
for her honored men o lots were cast,
p and all her great men were bound in chains.
 11 q You also will be drunken;
you will go into hiding;
r you will seek a refuge from the enemy.
 12 All your fortresses are s like fig trees
with first-ripe figs -
if shaken they fall
into the mouth of the eater.
 13 Behold, your troops
t are women in your midst.
The gates of your land
are wide open to your enemies;
fire has devoured your bars.

14 u Draw water for the siege;
r strengthen your forts;
go into the clay;
tread the mortar;
take hold of the brick mold!
 15 There will the fire devour you;
the sword will cut you off.
It will v devour you w like the locust.
Multiply yourselves w like the locust;
multiply w like the grasshopper!
 16 You increased x your merchants
more than the stars of the heavens.
w The locust spreads its wings and flies away.

17 Your z princes are w like grasshoppers,
a your scribes 3 like clouds of locusts
settling on the fences
in a day of cold -
when the sun rises, they fly away;
no one knows where they are.

18 Your shepherds b are asleep,
O king of Assyria;
c your nobles slumber.
Your people d are scattered on the mountains
with none to gather them.
 19 There is no easing your hurt;
e your wound is grievous.
All who hear the news about you
f clap their hands over you.
For g upon whom has not come
your unceasing evil?

  1. Cross References
    Ezekiel 24:9
    Therefore thus says the Lord God : Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great.
    Habakkuk 2:12
    Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity!
  2. Cross References
    Nahum 2:12
    The lion tore enough for his cubs and strangled prey for his lionesses; he filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh.
  3. Cross References
    Nahum 2:4
    The chariots race madly through the streets; they rush to and fro through the squares; they gleam like torches; they dart like lightning.
  4. Cross References
    Judges 5:22
    Then loud beat the horses' hoofs with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.
  5. Cross References
    Joel 2:5
    As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of the mountains, like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, like a powerful army drawn up for battle.
  6. Cross References
    Habakkuk 3:11
    The sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they sped, at the flash of your glittering spear.
  7. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:35
    And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
  8. Cross References
    Revelation 17:2
    With whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.
    Revelation 18:3
    For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.
  9. Cross References
    Isaiah 47:9
    These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments.
    Isaiah 47:12
    Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed; perhaps you may inspire terror.
  10. Cross References
    Nahum 2:13
    Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.
  11. Cross References
    Jeremiah 13:22
    And if you say in your heart, 'Why have these things come upon me?' it is for the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are lifted up and you suffer violence.
    Jeremiah 13:26
    I myself will lift up your skirts over your face, and your shame will be seen.
    Isaiah 3:17
    Therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.
    Isaiah 47:3
    Your nakedness shall be uncovered, and your disgrace shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one.
  12. Cross References
    Habakkuk 2:16
    You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the Lord 's right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory!
  13. Cross References
    Malachi 2:9
    And so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.
    Nahum 1:14
    The Lord has given commandment about you: "No more shall your name be perpetuated; from the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the metal image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.
  14. Cross References
    Hebrews 10:33
    Sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.
    1 Corinthians 4:9
    For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.
  15. Cross References
    Jeremiah 51:9
    We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed. Forsake her, and let us go each to his own country, for her judgment has reached up to heaven and has been lifted up even to the skies.
    Revelation 18:10
    They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, "Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.
  16. Cross References
    Zephaniah 2:13
    And he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria, and he will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste like the desert.
    Nahum 1:1
    An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.
  17. Cross References
    Isaiah 51:19
    These two things have happened to you - who will console you? - devastation and destruction, famine and sword; who will comfort you?
    Jeremiah 15:5
    Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, or who will grieve for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
  18. Cross References
    Lamentations 1:2
    She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.
    Lamentations 1:9
    Her uncleanness was in her skirts; she took no thought of her future; therefore her fall is terrible; she has no comforter. "O Lord, behold my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!
    Lamentations 1:16 - 17
    "For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me, one to revive my spirit; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed."
    Lamentations 1:21
    They heard my groaning, yet there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it. You have brought the day you announced; now let them be as I am.
  19. Cross References
    Amos 6:2
    Pass over to Calneh, and see, and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory.
  20. Cross References
    Jeremiah 46:25
    The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, said: "Behold, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him.
  21. Cross References
    Ezekiel 29:3
    Speak, and say, Thus says the Lord God : "Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his streams, that says, 'My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.
  22. Cross References
    Daniel 11:43
    He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train.
  23. Cross References
    Genesis 10:6
    The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.
  24. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 12:3
    With 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people were without number who came with him from Egypt - Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians.
  25. Cross References
    Isaiah 20:4
    So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt.
  26. Cross References
    Isaiah 13:16
    Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.
  27. Cross References
    Joel 3:3
    And have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.
    Obadiah 1:11
    On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them.
  28. Cross References
    Psalms 149:8
    To bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron.
  29. Cross References
    Jeremiah 25:17
    So I took the cup from the Lord 's hand, and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it:
    Jeremiah 25:27
    "Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you.'
    Psalms 75:8
    For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.
    Isaiah 51:17
    Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.
    Obadiah 1:16
    For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been.
  30. Cross References
    Jeremiah 4:5 - 6
    Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say, "Blow the trumpet through the land; cry aloud and say, 'Assemble, and let us go into the fortified cities!
  31. Cross References
    Revelation 6:13
    And the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.
  32. Cross References
    Isaiah 19:16
    In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them.
    Jeremiah 51:30
    The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting; they remain in their strongholds; their strength has failed; they have become women; her dwellings are on fire; her bars are broken.
  33. Cross References
    Isaiah 22:11
    You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.
  34. Cross References
    Nahum 3:11
    You also will be drunken; you will go into hiding; you will seek a refuge from the enemy.
  35. Cross References
    Joel 2:3
    Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them.
  36. Cross References
    Joel 1:4
    What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.
    Joel 1:6
    For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number; its teeth are lions' teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness.
  37. Cross References
    Joel 1:4
    What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.
    Joel 1:6
    For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number; its teeth are lions' teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness.
  38. Cross References
    Joel 1:4
    What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.
    Joel 1:6
    For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number; its teeth are lions' teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness.
  39. Cross References
    Ezekiel 27:23 - 24
    Haran, Canneh, Eden, traders of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with you.
  40. Cross References
    Nahum 3:15
    There will the fire devour you; the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust; multiply like the grasshopper!
  41. Cross References
    Isaiah 10:8
    For he says: "Are not my commanders all kings?
  42. Cross References
    Nahum 3:15
    There will the fire devour you; the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust; multiply like the grasshopper!
  43. Cross References
    Jeremiah 51:27
    Set up a standard on the earth; blow the trumpet among the nations; prepare the nations for war against her; summon against her the kingdoms, Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; appoint a marshal against her; bring up horses like bristling locusts.
  44. Cross References
    Psalms 76:5
    The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands.
  45. Cross References
    Nahum 2:5
    He remembers his officers; they stumble as they go, they hasten to the wall; the siege tower is set up.
  46. Cross References
    1 Kings 22:17
    And he said, "I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, 'These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.'
  47. Cross References
    Jeremiah 10:19
    Woe is me because of my hurt! My wound is grievous. But I said, "Truly this is an affliction, and I must bear it.
    Micah 1:9
    For her wound is incurable, and it has come to Judah; it has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.
  48. Cross References
    Lamentations 2:15
    All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: "Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?
    Zephaniah 2:15
    This is the exultant city that lived securely, that said in her heart, "I am, and there is no one else." What a desolation she has become, a lair for wild beasts! Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.
  49. Cross References
    Isaiah 37:18
    Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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