Nahum 3:9

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Cush and Egypt were her endless source of strength;Put and Libya were among her allies.

Hebrew Names Version
Kush and Mitzrayim were her boundless strength. Put and Luvim were her helpers.

King James Version (1611)
Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinit, Put and Lubim were thy helpers.

King James Version
Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.

English Standard Version
Cush was her strength; Egypt too, and that without limit; Put and the Libyans were her helpers.

New American Standard Bible
Ethiopia was her might, Egypt too, without limits. Put and Lubim were among her helpers.

New Century Version
Cush and Egypt gave her endless strength; Put and Libya supported her.

Amplified Bible
Ethiopia was her strength, And Egypt too, without limits. Put and Lubim were among her helpers.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and there was none ende: Put and Lubim were her helpers.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Ethiopia was her might, And Egypt too, without limits. Put and Lubim were among her helpers.

Legacy Standard Bible
Ethiopia was her might,And Egypt too, without end.Put and Lubim were among her helpers.

Berean Standard Bible
Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were her allies.

Contemporary English Version
Thebes trusted the mighty power of Ethiopia and Egypt; the nations of Put and Libya were her allies.

Complete Jewish Bible
Ethiopia and Egypt gave her boundless strength, Put and Luvim were there to help you.

Darby Translation
Ethiopia was her strength, and Egypt, and it was infinite; Phut and the Libyans were her helpers.

Easy-to-Read Version
Ethiopia and Egypt made Thebes strong. Libya and the Sudan supported her,

George Lamsa Translation
Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was limitless; Put and the Libyans were her helpers;

Good News Translation
She ruled Ethiopia and Egypt, there was no limit to her power; Libya was her ally.

Lexham English Bible
Cush was her strength, Egypt without end; Put and Libya were among your allies.

Literal Translation
Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, yea, without end; Put and Lubim were among your helpers.

American Standard Version
Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.

Bible in Basic English
Ethiopia was her strength and Egyptians without number; Put and Lubim were her helpers.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Ethiopia and Egypt were thy strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Ethiopia and Egypt [were thy] strength, and there was none end [of ayde,] Phut and Lubim were thy helpers.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Ethiopia is her strength, and Egypt; and there was no limit of the flight of her enemies; and the Libyans became her helpers.

English Revised Version
Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.

World English Bible
Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength. Put and Libya were her helpers.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Ethiope is strengthe therof, and Egipt, and there is noon ende; Affrik and Libie weren in help therof.

Update Bible Version
Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were your helpers.

Webster's Bible Translation
Cush and Egypt [were] her strength, and [it was] infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.

New English Translation
Cush and Egypt had limitless strength; Put and the Libyans were among her allies.

New King James Version
Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength,And it was boundless;Put and Lubim were your [fn] helpers.

New Living Translation
Ethiopia and the land of Egypt gave unlimited assistance. The nations of Put and Libya were among her allies.

New Life Bible
Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, with too many to number. Put and Lubim were among her helpers.

New Revised Standard
Ethiopia was her strength, Egypt too, and that without limit; Put and the Libyans were her helpers.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Ethiopia, was her strength, and Egypt - Yea, without end, - Put and Lubim, were among thy helpers.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Ethiopia and Egypt were the strength thereof, and there is no end: Africa and the Libyans were thy helpers.

Revised Standard Version
Ethiopia was her strength, Egypt too, and that without limit; Put and the Libyans were her helpers.

Young's Literal Translation
Cush her might, and Egypt, and there is no end. Put and Lubim have been for thy help.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Ethiopia and Egipte were hir stregth, & that exceadinge greate aboue measure. Aphrica and Lybia were hir helpers,

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

Ethiopia: Isaiah 20:5, Jeremiah 46:9

Put: Genesis 10:6, 1 Chronicles 1:8, Ezekiel 27:10, Ezekiel 30:5, Ezekiel 38:5

thy helpers: Heb. in thy help

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 12:3 - Lubims Jeremiah 46:25 - and their Ezekiel 29:15 - rule Ezekiel 30:6 - They also

Cross-References

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 3:13
"The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."

Genesis 3:17
He told the Man: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree That I commanded you not to eat from, ‘Don't eat from this tree,' The very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you'll be working in pain all your life long. The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you'll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting, sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk, Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt."

Genesis 3:20
The Man, known as Adam, named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.

Genesis 3:21
God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.

Genesis 4:9
God said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "How should I know? Am I his babysitter?"

Genesis 11:5
God came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Ethiopia and Egypt [were] her strength,.... That is, the strength, support, protection, and defence of No, whether Alexandria, or Thebes, or Memphis: Egypt was, for these cities were in it, and subject to it; or, if this was a free city, as some think, yet in alliance with Egypt, and under its protection; and in like connection it was with Ethiopia, that is, Arabia, a country that lay near to it; and yet, though it was strengthened by such powerful neighbours and allies, it was not secure from the devastation of the enemy:

and it [was] infinite; or there was "no end" o; of its strength, or of the number of its allies, or the forces they were able to bring in its defence. The Ethiopians were very numerous, as may be learnt from 2 Chronicles 14:9 and so were the Egyptians, to whom some interpreters strictly connect this sentence. In the times of Amasis, as Mela p relates, there were twenty thousand cities inhabited in it; and Josephus q says there were in it seven hundred and fifty myriads of men; as Sethon, king of Egypt, and Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, were about this time the allies of the Jews, in whom they trusted, no doubt they were confederate together, and so both the strength of this city; see Isaiah 36:6:

Put and Lubim, were thy helpers; Put, or the Putim, were the people of the Moors, that dwelt in Mauritania; and Lubim were the Lybians that bordered on Egypt, and whose country is sometimes reckoned a part of it. The Jews r say Lybia is Egypt; see Acts 2:10 these several people were the confederates of No; and helped them, not only by their commerce with them, but in time of war assisted them against their enemies; and yet, though so strengthened by alliances, were not safe and secure; and therefore Nineveh could not depend upon such helps and helpers.

o ואין קצה "non est finis", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Cocceius. p De Orbis Situ. l. 1. c. 9. q De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 16. sect. 4. r T. Hieros. Celaim, c. 8. fol. 31. 3.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength - Literally, “Egypt was strength , and Ethiopia, and boundless.” He sets forth first the imperial might of No; then her strength from foreign, subdued power. The capital is a sort of impersonation of the might of the state; No, of Egypt, as Nineveh, of Assyria. When the head was cut off or the heart ceased to beat, all was lost. The might of Egypt and Ethiopia was the might of No, concentrated in her. They were strength, and that strength unmeasured by any human standard. Boundless was the strength, which Nineveh had subdued: boundless, the store Nahum 2:10 which she had accumulated for the spoiler; boundless Nahum 3:3 the carcasses of her slain. “And it was infinite.” “The people that came up with the king out of Egypt, were without number” 2 Chronicles 12:3. The Egyptians connected with Thebes are counted by a pagan author at seven million. Put or Phut is mentioned third among the sons of Ham, after Cash anal Mizraim Genesis 10:6. They are mentioned with the Ethiopians in Pharaoh’s army at the Euphrates , as joined with them in the visitation of Egypt Ezekiel 30:5; with Cush in the army of Gog Ezekiel 38:15; with Lud in that of Tyre Ezekiel 29:10; a country and river of that name were, Josephus tells us , “frequently mentioned by Greek historians.” They dwelt in the Libya, conterminous to the Canopic mouth of the Nile .

And Lubim - These came up against Judah in the army of Shishak 2 Chronicles 12:3 against Rehoboam, and with the Ethiopians, “a huge host” under Zerah the Ethiopian against Asa . The Ribou or Libou appear on the monuments as a people conquered by Menephthes and Rameses III . They were still to be united with Egypt and the Ethiopians in the times of Antiochus Epiphanes Daniel 11:43; so their connection with Egypt was not broken by its fall. Those unwearied enemies had become incorporated with her; and were now her help. These were (English Margin) in thy help; set upon it, given up to it. The prophet appeals to No herself, as it were, “Thou hadst strength.” Then he turns away, to speak of her, unwilling to look on the miseries which he has to portray to Nineveh, as the preludes of her own. Without God, vain is the help of man.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 9. Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength — The land of Cush, not far from Diospolis; for it was in Arabia, on the Red Sea.

Put and Lubim — A part of Africa and Libya, which were all within reach of forming alliances with No-Ammon or Diospolis.