Nahum 3:13

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Look, your troops are like women among you;your land’s city gatesare wide open to your enemies.Fire will devour the bars of your gates.

Hebrew Names Version
Behold, your troops in your midst are women. The gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies. The fire has devoured your bars.

King James Version (1611)
Beholde, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open vnto thine enemies, the fire shall deuoure thy barres.

King James Version
Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.

English Standard Version
Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars.

New American Standard Bible
Behold, your people are women in your midst! The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies; Fire consumes your gate bars.

New Century Version
Look at your soldiers. They are all women! The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies; fire has burned the bars of your gates.

Amplified Bible
Behold, your people are [as weak and helpless as] women in your midst! The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies; Fire consumes the bars across your gates.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Beholde, thy people within thee are women: the gates of thy land shalbe opened vnto thine enemies, and ye fire shall deuoure thy barres.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Behold, your people are women in your midst! The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies; Fire consumes your gate bars.

Legacy Standard Bible
Behold, your people are women in your midst!The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies;Fire consumes your gate bars.

Berean Standard Bible
Behold, your troops are like your women; the gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire consumes their bars.

Contemporary English Version
Your army is weak. Fire has destroyed the crossbars on your city gates; now they stand wide open to your enemy.

Complete Jewish Bible
Look at your troops! They behave like women! Your country's gates are wide open to your foes; fire has consumed their bars.

Darby Translation
Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are [as] women: the gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies; the fire devoureth thy bars.

Easy-to-Read Version
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.

George Lamsa Translation
Behold, your people in the midst of you are cowards; they will open the gates of your land to your enemies; the fire shall devour your bars.

Good News Translation
Your soldiers are helpless, and your country stands defenseless before your enemies. Fire will destroy the bars across your gates.

Lexham English Bible
Look! Your troops are like women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire will consume the bars of your gates.

Literal Translation
Behold, your people are women in your midst; the gates of your land shall surely be opened to your enemies; the fire shall devour your bars.

American Standard Version
Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women; the gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire hath devoured thy bars.

Bible in Basic English
See, the people who are in you are women; the doorways of your land are wide open to your attackers: the locks of your doors have been burned away in the fire.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women; the gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies; the fire hath devoured thy bars.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Behold thy men [are as baren] women in the middest of thee, the gates of thy lande shalbe set wyde open to thine enemies, fire hath deuoured thy barres.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Behold, thy people within thee are as women: the gates of thy land shall surely be opened to thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.

English Revised Version
Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women; the gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire hath devoured thy bars.

World English Bible
Behold, your troops in your midst are women. The gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies. The fire has devoured your bars.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Lo! thi puple ben wymmen in the myddil of thee; the yatis of thi lond schulen be schewid to openyng to thin enemyes; fier schal deuoure thin herris.

Update Bible Version
Look, your people in the midst of you are women; the gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies: the fire has devoured your bars.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

New English Translation
Your warriors will be like women in your midst; the gates of your land will be wide open to your enemies; fire will consume the bars of your gates.

New King James Version
Surely, your people in your midst are women! The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies; Fire shall devour the bars of your gates.

New Living Translation
Your troops will be as weak and helpless as women. The gates of your land will be opened wide to the enemy and set on fire and burned.

New Life Bible
Your soldiers are all women. The gates of your land are opened wide to those who hate you. Fire destroys your gates.

New Revised Standard
Look at your troops: they are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your foes; fire has devoured the bars of your gates.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Lo! thy people, are women, in thy midst, to thy foes, have been set wide open the gates of thy and, - a fire, hath devoured, thy bars.

Douay-Rheims Bible
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.

Revised Standard Version
Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your foes; fire has devoured your bars.

Young's Literal Translation
Lo, thy people [are] women in thy midst, To thine enemies thoroughly opened Have been the gates of thy land, Consumed hath fire thy bars.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Beholde, thy people with in the are but women: the portes of thy londe shal be opened vnto thine enemies, and the fyre shal deuoure yi barres.

Contextual Overview

⁸Do you think you're superior to Egyptian Thebes, proudly invincible on the River Nile, Protected by the great River, walled in by the River, secure? Ethiopia stood guard to the south, Egypt to the north. Put and Libya, strong friends, were ready to step in and help. But you know what happened to her: The whole city was marched off to a refugee camp, Her babies smashed to death in public view on the streets, Her prize leaders auctioned off, her celebrities put in chain gangs. Expect the same treatment, Nineveh. You'll soon be staggering like a bunch of drunks, Wondering what hit you, looking for a place to sleep it off. All your forts are like peach trees, the lush peaches ripe, ready for the picking. One shake of the tree and they fall straight into hungry mouths. Face it: Your warriors are wimps. You're sitting ducks. Your borders are gaping doors, inviting your enemies in. And who's to stop them? ¹⁴Store up water for the siege. Shore up your defenses. Get down to basics: Work the clay and make bricks. Sorry. Too late. Enemy fire will burn you up. Swords will cut you to pieces. You'll be chewed up as if by locusts. Yes, as if by locusts—a fitting fate, for you yourselves are a locust plague. You've multiplied shops and shopkeepers— more buyers and sellers than stars in the sky! A plague of locusts, cleaning out the neighborhood and then flying off. Your bureaucrats are locusts, your brokers and bankers are locusts. Early on, they're all at your service, full of smiles and promises, But later when you return with questions or complaints, you'll find they've flown off and are nowhere to be found. King of Assyria! Your shepherd-leaders, in charge of caring for your people, Are busy doing everything else but. They're not doing their job, And your people are scattered and lost. There's no one to look after them. You're past the point of no return. Your wound is fatal. When the story of your fate gets out, the whole world will applaud and cry "Encore!" Your cruel evil has seeped into every nook and cranny of the world. Everyone has felt it and suffered. ¹⁶Let the Nations Get Their Fill of the Ugly Truth Doom to Murder City— full of lies, bursting with loot, addicted to violence! Horns blaring, wheels clattering, horses rearing, chariots lurching, Horsemen galloping, brandishing swords and spears, Dead bodies rotting in the street, corpses stacked like cordwood, Bodies in every gutter and alley, clogging every intersection! And whores! Whores without end! Whore City, Fatally seductive, you're the Witch of Seduction, luring nations to their ruin with your evil spells. "I'm your enemy, Whore Nineveh— I, God -of-the-Angel-Armies! I'll strip you of your seductive silk robes and expose you on the world stage. I'll let the nations get their fill of the ugly truth of who you really are and have been all along. I'll pelt you with dog dung and place you on a pedestal: ‘Slut on Exhibit.' Everyone who sees you will gag and say, ‘Nineveh's a pigsty: What on earth did we ever see in her? Who would give her a second look? Ugh!'" Do you think you're superior to Egyptian Thebes, proudly invincible on the River Nile, Protected by the great River, walled in by the River, secure? Ethiopia stood guard to the south, Egypt to the north. Put and Libya, strong friends, were ready to step in and help. But you know what happened to her: The whole city was marched off to a refugee camp, Her babies smashed to death in public view on the streets, Her prize leaders auctioned off, her celebrities put in chain gangs. Expect the same treatment, Nineveh. You'll soon be staggering like a bunch of drunks, Wondering what hit you, looking for a place to sleep it off. All your forts are like peach trees, the lush peaches ripe, ready for the picking. One shake of the tree and they fall straight into hungry mouths. Face it: Your warriors are wimps. You're sitting ducks. Your borders are gaping doors, inviting your enemies in. And who's to stop them? Store up water for the siege. Shore up your defenses. Get down to basics: Work the clay and make bricks. Sorry. Too late. Enemy fire will burn you up. Swords will cut you to pieces. You'll be chewed up as if by locusts. Yes, as if by locusts—a fitting fate, for you yourselves are a locust plague. You've multiplied shops and shopkeepers— more buyers and sellers than stars in the sky! A plague of locusts, cleaning out the neighborhood and then flying off. Your bureaucrats are locusts, your brokers and bankers are locusts. Early on, they're all at your service, full of smiles and promises, But later when you return with questions or complaints, you'll find they've flown off and are nowhere to be found. King of Assyria! Your shepherd-leaders, in charge of caring for your people, Are busy doing everything else but. They're not doing their job, And your people are scattered and lost. There's no one to look after them. You're past the point of no return. Your wound is fatal. When the story of your fate gets out, the whole world will applaud and cry "Encore!" Your cruel evil has seeped into every nook and cranny of the world. Everyone has felt it and suffered. ¹⁷Let the Nations Get Their Fill of the Ugly Truth Doom to Murder City— full of lies, bursting with loot, addicted to violence! Horns blaring, wheels clattering, horses rearing, chariots lurching, Horsemen galloping, brandishing swords and spears, Dead bodies rotting in the street, corpses stacked like cordwood, Bodies in every gutter and alley, clogging every intersection! And whores! Whores without end! Whore City, Fatally seductive, you're the Witch of Seduction, luring nations to their ruin with your evil spells. "I'm your enemy, Whore Nineveh— I, God -of-the-Angel-Armies! I'll strip you of your seductive silk robes and expose you on the world stage. I'll let the nations get their fill of the ugly truth of who you really are and have been all along. I'll pelt you with dog dung and place you on a pedestal: ‘Slut on Exhibit.' Everyone who sees you will gag and say, ‘Nineveh's a pigsty: What on earth did we ever see in her? Who would give her a second look? Ugh!'" Do you think you're superior to Egyptian Thebes, proudly invincible on the River Nile, Protected by the great River, walled in by the River, secure? Ethiopia stood guard to the south, Egypt to the north. Put and Libya, strong friends, were ready to step in and help. But you know what happened to her: The whole city was marched off to a refugee camp, Her babies smashed to death in public view on the streets, Her prize leaders auctioned off, her celebrities put in chain gangs. Expect the same treatment, Nineveh. You'll soon be staggering like a bunch of drunks, Wondering what hit you, looking for a place to sleep it off. All your forts are like peach trees, the lush peaches ripe, ready for the picking. One shake of the tree and they fall straight into hungry mouths. Face it: Your warriors are wimps. You're sitting ducks. Your borders are gaping doors, inviting your enemies in. And who's to stop them? Store up water for the siege. Shore up your defenses. Get down to basics: Work the clay and make bricks. Sorry. Too late. Enemy fire will burn you up. Swords will cut you to pieces. You'll be chewed up as if by locusts. Yes, as if by locusts—a fitting fate, for you yourselves are a locust plague. You've multiplied shops and shopkeepers— more buyers and sellers than stars in the sky! A plague of locusts, cleaning out the neighborhood and then flying off. Your bureaucrats are locusts, your brokers and bankers are locusts. Early on, they're all at your service, full of smiles and promises, But later when you return with questions or complaints, you'll find they've flown off and are nowhere to be found. ¹⁸King of Assyria! Your shepherd-leaders, in charge of caring for your people, Are busy doing everything else but. They're not doing their job, And your people are scattered and lost. There's no one to look after them. You're past the point of no return. Your wound is fatal. When the story of your fate gets out, the whole world will applaud and cry "Encore!" Your cruel evil has seeped into every nook and cranny of the world. Everyone has felt it and suffered.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

thy people: Isaiah 19:16, Jeremiah 50:37, Jeremiah 51:30

the gates: Nahum 2:6, Psalms 107:16, Isaiah 45:1, Isaiah 45:2

thy bars: Psalms 147:13, Jeremiah 51:30

Reciprocal: Isaiah 3:12 - children Jeremiah 50:36 - her mighty Amos 1:5 - break Obadiah 1:9 - thy Nahum 3:15 - shall the

Cross-References

Genesis 3:4
The serpent told the Woman, "You won't die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil."

Genesis 3:6
When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she'd know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.

Genesis 3:9
God called to the Man: "Where are you?"

Genesis 3:10
He said, "I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid."

Genesis 3:12
The Man said, "The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it." God said to the Woman, "What is this that you've done?"

Genesis 44:15
Joseph accused them: "How can you have done this? You have to know that a man in my position would have discovered this."

1 Samuel 13:11
Samuel said, "What on earth are you doing?" Saul answered, "When I saw I was losing my army from under me, and that you hadn't come when you said you would, and that the Philistines were poised at Micmash, I said, ‘The Philistines are about to come down on me in Gilgal, and I haven't yet come before God asking for his help.' So I took things into my own hands, and sacrificed the burnt offering."

2 Samuel 3:24
Joab went straight to the king: "What's this you've done? Abner shows up, and you let him walk away scot-free? You know Abner son of Ner better than that. This was no friendly visit. He was here to spy on you, figure out your comings and goings, find out what you're up to."

John 18:35
Pilate said, "Do I look like a Jew? Your people and your high priests turned you over to me. What did you do?"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Behold, thy people in the midst of thee [are] women,.... Or like women, weak and feeble, fearful and timorous; frightened at the first approach of the enemy; run away, and run up and down in the utmost consternation and distress, having neither skill nor courage to oppose them; some regard may be had to the effeminacy of their king; see Nahum 2:7. The sense is, they should be at once dispirited, and lose all strength of mind and body, and have neither heads nor hearts to form schemes, and execute them in their own defence; and thus should they be, even in the midst of the city, upon their own ground, where, any where, it might be thought they would exert themselves, and play the man, since their all lay at stake: this was another thing they trusted in, the multitude of their people, even of their soldiers; but these would be of no avail, since they would lose all their military skill and bravery:

the gates of thy land shall be set wide open to thine enemies: instead of guarding the passes and avenues, they would abandon them to the enemy; and, instead of securing the gates and passages, they would run away from them; and the enemy would find as easy access as if they were thrown open on purpose for them; perhaps this may respect the gates of the rivers being opened by the inundation, which threw down the wall, and made a way into the city; see Nahum 2:6:

the fire shall devour thy bars; with which their gates had been shut, but now opened, and in the enemies' hands; who would set fire to them, that the way to go in and out might be open and free.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women - Fierce, fearless, hard, iron men, such as their warriors still are portrayed by themselves on their monuments, they whom no toll wearied, no peril daunted, shall be, one and all, their whole “people, women.” So Jeremiah to Babylon, “they shall become, became, women” Jeremiah 50:37; Jeremiah 51:30. He sets it before the eyes. “Behold, thy people are women;” against nature they are such, not in tenderness but in weakness and fear. Among the signs of the Day of Judgment, it stands, “men’s hearts failing them for fear” Luke 21:26. Where sin reigns, there is no strength left, no manliness or nobleness of soul, no power to resist. “In the midst of thee,” where thou seemest most secure, and, if anywhere, there were hope of safety. The very inmost self of the sinner gives way.

To thine enemies - (This is, for emphasis, prefixed) not for any good to thee, but “to thine enemies shall be set wide open the gates of thy land,” not, “thy gates,” i. e., the gates of their cities, (which is a distinct idiom), but “the gates of the land” itself, every avenue, which might have been closed against the invader, but which was “laid open.” The Easterns, as well as the Greeks and Latins . See further Liddell and Scott, loc. cit.) the πύλαι τῆς Κιλικίας καὶ τῆς Συρίας pulai tēs Kilikias kai tēs Surias, Xen. Anab. i. 4. 14, the “Amsnicae Pylae” (Q. Curt. iii. 20). Pliny speaks of the “portae Caucasiae” (H. N. vi. 11) or “Iberiae” (Albaniae Ptol. v. 12.) Ibid. 15), used the word “gate” or “doors” of the mountain passes, which gave an access to a land, but which might be held against an enemy. In the pass called “the Caucasian gates,” there were, over and above, doors fastened with iron bars . At Thermopylae or, as the inhabitants called them, Pylae , “gates,” the narrow pass was further guarded by a wall . Its name recalls the brilliant history, how such approaches might be held by a devoted handful of men against almost countless multitudes. Of Assyria, Pliny says , “The Tigris and pathless mountains encircle Adiabene.” When those “gates of the land” gave way, the whole land was laid open to its enemies.

The fire shall devour thy bars - Probably, as elsewhere, the bars of the gates, which were mostly of wood, since it is added expressly of some, that they were of the iron Psalms 107:16; Isaiah 14:2 or brass 1 Kings 4:13. : “Occasionally the efforts of the besiegers were directed against the gate, which they endeavored to break open with axes, or to set on fire by application of a torch - In the hot climate of S. Asia wood becomes so dry by exposture to the sun, that the most solid doors may readily be ignited and consumed.” It is even remarked in one instance that the Assyrians “have not set fire to the gates of this city, as appeared to be their usual practice in attacking a fortified place.”

So were her palaces buried as they stood, that the traces of prolonged fire are still visible, calcining the one part and leaving others which were not exposed to it, uncalcined. : “It is incontestable that, during the excavations, a considerable quantity of charcoal, and even pieces of wood, either half-burnt or in a perfect state of preservation, were found in many places. The lining of the chambers also bears certain marks of the action of fire. All these things can be explained only by supposing the fall of a burning roof, which calcined the slabs of gypsum and converted them into dust. It would be absurd to imagine that the burning of a small quantity of furniture could have left on the walls marks like these which are to be seen through all the chambers, with the exception of one, which was only an open passage. It must have been a violent and prolonged fire, to be able to calcine not only a few places, but every part of these slabs, which were ten feet high and several inches thick. So complete a decomposition can be attributed but to intense heat, such as would be occasioned by the fall of a burning roof.

“Botta found on the engraved flag-stones scoria and half-melted nails, so that there is no doubt that these appearances had been produced by the action of intense and long-sustained beat. He remembers, beside, at Khorsabad, that when he detached some bas-reliefs from the earthy substance which covered them, in order to copy the inscriptions that were behind, he found there coals and cinders, which could have entered only by the top, between the wall and the back of the bas-relief. This can be easily understood to have been caused by the burning of the roof, but is inexplicable in any other manner. What tends most positively to prove that the traces of fire must be attributed to the burning of a wooden roof is, that these traces are perceptible only in the interior of the building. The gypsum also that covers the wall inside is completely calcined, while the outside of the building is nearly everywhere untouched. But wherever the fronting appears to have at all suffered from fire, it is at the bottom; thus giving reason to suppose that the damage has been done by some burning matter falling outside. In fact, not a single bas-relief in a state to be removed was found in any of the chambers, they were all pulverized.”

The soul which does not rightly close its senses against the enticements of the world, does, in fact, open them, and death is come up into our windows Jeremiah 9:21, and then “whatever natural good there yet be, which, as bars, would hinder the enemy from bursting in, is consumed by the fire,” once kindled, of its evil passions.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Nahum 3:13. Thy people - are women — They lost all courage, and made no resistance. O vere Phrygiae, neque enim Phryges: "Verily, ye are Phrygian women, not Phrygian men." So said Numanus to the Trojans. Virg., AEn. ix.