Nahum 3 - Easy To Read Version

¹ It will be very bad\par for that city of murderers.\par \{Nineveh\} is a city full of lies.\par It is filled with things taken\par from other countries.\par It is filled with plenty of people\par that it hunted and killed!\par

² You can hear the sounds\par of whips cracking,\par the noise of wheels,\par horses galloping,\par and chariots bouncing along!\par

³ Soldiers on horses are attacking,\par their swords are shining,\par their spears are gleaming!\par There are many dead people,\par dead bodies piled up,\par too many bodies to count!\par People are tripping over all the dead bodies.\par

⁴ All this happened because of \{Nineveh\}.\par Nineveh is like a prostitute\par that could never get enough.\par She wanted more and more.\par She sold herself to many nations,\par and she used her magic\par to make them her slaves.\par

⁵ The Lord All-Powerful says,\par “I am against you Nineveh.\par I will pull your dress {\cf2\super [7]} up over your face.\par I will let the nations see your naked body.\par Those kingdoms will see your shame.\par

⁶ I will throw dirty things on you.\par I will treat you in a hateful way.\par People will look at you and laugh.\par

⁷ Everyone who sees you will be shocked.\par They will say,\par ‘Nineveh is destroyed.\par Who will cry for her?’\par I know I cannot find anyone\par to comfort you, Nineveh.”\par

⁸ Nineveh, are you better than Thebes {\cf2\super [8]} on the Nile River? No! Thebes also had water all around her. Thebes used the water to protect herself from enemies. She used that water like a wall too!

⁹ Ethiopia and Egypt gave Thebes much strength. The Sudan and Libya supported her.

¹⁰ But Thebes was defeated. Her people were taken away as prisoners to a foreign country. Soldiers beat her small children to death at every street corner. They threw lots {\cf2\super [9]} to see who got to keep the important people as slaves. They put chains on all the important men of Thebes.

¹¹ So Nineveh, you will also fall like a drunk person! You will try to hide. You will look for a safe place away from the enemy.

¹² But \{Nineveh\}, all your strong places will be like fig trees. New figs become ripe. A person comes and shakes the tree. The figs fall into the mouth of that person. He eats them, and they are gone!

¹³ \{Nineveh\}, your people are all like women—and the enemy soldiers are ready to take them. The gates of your land are open wide for your enemies to come in. Fire has destroyed the wooden bars across the gates.

¹⁴ Get water and store it inside your city. Why? Because the enemy soldiers will surround your city. \{They will not let any person bring food or water into the city.\} Make your defenses strong! Get clay to make more bricks! Mix the mortar! Get the molds for making bricks!

¹⁵ You can do all those things, but the fire will still destroy you completely! And the sword will kill you. Your land will look like a swarm of grasshoppers came and ate everything.

¹⁶ You have many, many businessmen that go places and buy things. They are as many as the stars in the sky! And they are like locusts that come, eat everything until it is finished, and then leave.

¹⁷ And your government officials are also like locusts. They are like locusts that settle on a stone wall on a cold day. But when the sun comes up, the rocks become warm, and the locusts all fly away. And no one knows where! \{Your officials will be like that.\}

¹⁸ King of Assyria, your shepherds (leaders) fell asleep. Those powerful men are sleeping. And now your sheep (people) have wandered away on the mountains. And there is no person to bring them back.

¹⁹ Nineveh, you have been hurt badly, and nothing can heal your wound. Everyone who hears the news of your destruction claps his hands. They are all happy! Why? Because they all felt the pain you always caused!