Nahum 3:8-10
Contemporary English Version
Nineveh's Fate Is Sealed
8 Nineveh, do you feel safer
than the city of Thebes?[a]
The Nile River
was its wall of defense.[b]
9 Thebes trusted the mighty power
of Ethiopia[c] and Egypt;
the nations of Put[d] and Libya
were her allies.
10 But she was captured and taken
to a foreign country.
Her children were murdered
at every street corner.
The members of her royal family
were auctioned off,
and her high officials
were bound in chains.
Footnotes
- 3.8 Thebes: In 663 b.c., the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal captured this Egyptian city, which seems to have been built with protection similar to that of Nineveh.
- 3.8 was its … defense: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 3.9 Ethiopia: The Hebrew text has “Cush,” which was a region south of Egypt that included parts of the present countries of Ethiopia and Sudan.
- 3.9 Put: A region in Africa, possibly part of the present country of Libya.
Nahum 3:8-10
New International Version
8 Are you better than(A) Thebes,(B)
situated on the Nile,(C)
with water around her?
The river was her defense,
the waters her wall.
9 Cush[a](D) and Egypt were her boundless strength;
Put(E) and Libya(F) were among her allies.
10 Yet she was taken captive(G)
and went into exile.
Her infants were dashed(H) to pieces
at every street corner.
Lots(I) were cast for her nobles,
and all her great men were put in chains.(J)
Footnotes
- Nahum 3:9 That is, the upper Nile region
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