Nahum 3:16-18

Contemporary English Version

¹⁶ More merchants are in your city
than there are stars
    in the sky—
but they are like locusts
that eat everything,
    then fly away.
¹⁷ Your guards and your officials
    are swarms of locusts.
On a chilly day
    they settle on a fence,
but when the sun comes out,
they take off
    to who-knows-where.

¹⁸ King of Assyria,
your officials and leaders
    are sound asleep,
while your people are scattered
    in the mountains.
Yes, your people are sheep
    without a shepherd.