Nahum 3 - Douy-Rheims Bible Challoner Revision

¹ Ethiopia and Egypt were the strength thereof, and there is no end: Africa and the Libyans were thy helpers.

² 0 Yet she also was removed and carried into captivity: her young children were dashed in pieces at the top of every street, and they cast lots upon her nobles, and all her great men were bound in fetters.

³ 1 Therefore thou also shalt be made drunk, and shalt be despised: and thou shalt seek help from the enemy.

⁴ 2 All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with their green figs: if they be shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of the eater.

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

⁶ 4 Draw thee water for the siege, build up thy bulwarks: go into the clay, and tread, work it and make brick.

⁷ 5 There shall the fire devour thee: thou shalt perish by the sword, it shall devour thee like the bruchus: assemble together like the bruchus, make thyself many like the locust.

⁸ 6 Thou hast multiplied thy merchandises above the stars of heaven: the bruchus hath spread himself and flown away.

⁹ 7 Thy guards are like the locusts: and thy little ones like the locusts of locusts which swarm on the hedges in the day of cold: the sun arose, and they flew away, and their place was not known where they were.

¹⁰ 8 Thy shepherds have slumbered, O king of Assyria, thy princes shall be buried: thy people are hid in the mountains, and there is none to gather them together.

¹¹ 9 Thy destruction is not hidden, thy wound is grievous: all that have heard the fame of thee, have clapped their hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?

¹² The burden that Habacuc the prophet saw.

¹³ How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? shall I cry out to thee suffering violence, and thou wilt not save?

¹⁴ Why hast thou shewn me iniquity and grievance, to see rapine and injustice before me? and there is a judgment, but opposition is more powerful.

¹⁵ Therefore the law is torn in pieces, and judgment cometh not to the end: because the wicked prevaileth against the just, therefore wrong judgment goeth forth.

¹⁶ Behold ye among the nations, and see: wonder, and be astonished: for a work is done in your days, which no man will believe when it shall be told.

¹⁷ For behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift nation, marching upon the breadth of the earth, to possess the dwelling places that are not their own.

¹⁸ They are dreadful, and terrible: from themselves shall their judgment, and their burden proceed.

¹⁹ Their horses are lighter than leopards, and swifter than evening wolves; and their horsemen shall be spread abroad: for their horsemen shall come from afar, they shall fly as an eagle that maketh haste to eat.