Yesaya 47:2

47:2 Pick up millstones and grind flour!

Remove your veil,

strip off your skirt,

expose your legs,

cross the streams!

Mikha 1:8

1:8 For this reason I ¹  will mourn and wail;

I will walk around barefoot ²  and without my outer garments. ³ 

I will howl ⁴  like a wild dog, ⁵ 

and screech ⁶  like an owl. ⁷ 

Nahum 3:5

3:5 I am against you,” declares the Lord who commands armies. ⁸ 

“I will strip off your clothes! ⁹ 

I will show your nakedness to the nations

and your shame to the kingdoms;

¹ tn The prophet is probably the speaker here.

² tn Or “stripped.” The precise meaning of this Hebrew word is unclear. It may refer to walking barefoot (see 2 Sam 15:30) or to partially stripping oneself (see Job 12:17-19).

³ tn Heb “naked.” This probably does not refer to complete nudity, but to stripping off one’s outer garments as an outward sign of the destitution felt by the mourner.

⁴ tn Heb “I will make lamentation.”

⁵ tn Or “a jackal”; CEV “howling wolves.”

⁶ tn Heb “[make] a mourning.”

⁷ tn Or perhaps “ostrich” (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

⁸ tn Traditionally, “the Lord of hosts.” See the note on the expression “the Lord who commands armies” in 2:13.

⁹ tn Heb “I will uncover your skirts over your face.”

sn Strip off your clothes. In the ancient Near East, the typical punishment for a prostitute was to strip her of her clothes publicly to expose her to open shame, embarrassment, and public ridicule. Because Nineveh had acted like a prostitute, the Lord would punish her as a prostitute.