Nahum 1:1–3:19

Yahweh’s Wrath Against Nineveh

¹The ^1aoracle of ^bNineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

Aleph

²A ^ajealous and avenging God is ¹Yahweh;

Yahweh is ^bavenging and ²wrathful.

Yahweh is ^cavenging against His adversaries,

And He keeps His anger for His enemies.

³Yahweh is ^aslow to anger and great in power,

And Yahweh will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.

Beth

In ¹whirlwind and storm is His way,

And ¹clouds are the dust beneath His feet.

Gimel

⁴He ^arebukes the sea and makes it dry;

He dries up all the rivers.

^bBashan and Carmel languish;

The blossoms of Lebanon languish.

He

⁵Mountains ^aquake because of Him,

Vav

And the hills ¹melt;

Indeed the earth is ¹upheaved by His presence,

The ¹world and all the inhabitants in it.

Zayin

^6aWho can stand before His indignation?

Who can endure the ^bburning of His anger?

Heth

His ¹wrath is poured out like fire,

And the ¹rocks are torn down by Him.

Teth

⁷Yahweh is ^agood,

A strong defense in the day of distress,

Yodh

And ¹He knows those who take refuge in Him.

⁸But with an ^aoverflowing flood

Kaph

He will make a complete destruction of ^aits place

And will pursue His enemies into ¹darkness.

⁹Whatever you ^adevise against Yahweh,

He will make a ^bcomplete destruction of it.

Distress will not rise up twice.

¹⁰Like tangled ^athorns,

And like those who are ^bdrunken with their drink,

They are ^cconsumed

As stubble fully dried up.

¹¹From you has gone forth

One who ^adevised evil against Yahweh,

A ^1bvile counselor.

¹²Thus says Yahweh,

“Though they are at full strength and likewise many,

Even so, they will be ^acut off and pass away.

Though I have afflicted you,

I will afflict you ^bno longer.

¹³“So now, I will ^abreak his yoke bar from upon you,

And I will break your bands apart.”

¹⁴And Yahweh has commanded concerning ¹you:

“²There will ^ano longer be seed from your name.

From the house of your gods,

I will cut off ^bgraven image and molten image.

I will prepare your ^cgrave,

For you are contemptible.”

¹⁵¹Behold, ^aon the mountains the feet of him who proclaims good news,

Who ²announces peace!

^bCelebrate your feasts, O Judah;

Pay your vows.

For ^cnever again will the ³vile one pass through you;

He is ^dcut off completely.

CHAPTER 2

Yahweh’s Destruction of Nineveh

¹¹The one who ^ascatters has come up against ²you.

Guard the fortification, watch the road;

Strengthen your loins, ³instill your power with exceeding courage.

²For Yahweh will restore the ^amajesty of Jacob

^bLike the majesty of Israel,

Even though those who empty them have emptied them to destruction

And ^cruined their vine branches.

³The shields of ¹his mighty men are colored red,

The valiant men are dressed in ^a2scarlet,

The chariots are enveloped in ³flashing steel

⁴When he is set up to march,

And the cypress ^bspears are brandished.

⁴The ^achariots race madly in the streets;

They rush wildly in the ¹squares;

Their appearance is like torches;

They dash to and fro like lightning flashes.

⁵He remembers his ^amighty ones;

They ^bstumble in their march;

They hurry to her wall,

And the ¹mantelet is set up.

⁶The gates of the rivers are opened,

And the palace is melted away.

⁷So it stands fixed:

She is exiled, she is carried away,

And her maidservants are ^amoaning like the sound of doves,

^bBeating on their hearts.

⁸Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days,

Now they are fleeing;

“Stand! Stand!”

But ^ano one ¹turns back.

⁹Plunder the silver!

Plunder the ^agold!

And there is no limit to the treasure—

¹Wealth from every kind of desirable object.

¹⁰She is ^aemptied! Yes, she is emptied out and eviscerated!

^bHearts are melting and knees knocking!

Also anguish is in all their loins,

And all their ^cfaces ¹turn pale!

¹¹Where is the den of the lions

And the feeding place of the ^ayoung lions,

Where the lion, lioness, and lion’s cub prowled,

With nothing to make them tremble?

¹²The lion tore enough for its cubs

And strangled enough for its lionesses

And filled its lairs with torn up prey

And its dens with torn up flesh.

¹³“Behold, ^aI am against you,” declares Yahweh of hosts. “And I will ^bburn up her chariots in smoke, and a sword will devour your young lions; and I will ^ccut off your prey from the land, and no longer will the voice of your messengers be heard.”

CHAPTER 3

Woe to Nineveh

^1aWoe to the city of ¹bloodshed, completely full of deception and pillage;

Her prey never departs.

²The ^asound of the whip,

And the sound of the rumbling of the wheel,

Galloping horses,

And ¹bounding chariots!

³Horsemen charging,

And swords flaming, and ^aspears flashing,

^bMany slain, a mass of corpses,

And ^cthere is no end to dead bodies—

They stumble over ¹the dead bodies!

⁴All because of the ^amany harlotries of the harlot,

The charming one, the ^bmistress of sorceries,

Who ^csells nations by her harlotries

And families by her sorceries.

⁵“Behold, ^aI am against you,” declares Yahweh of hosts;

“And I will ^buncover your skirts over your face

And ^cshow to the nations your nakedness

And to the kingdoms your disgrace.

⁶“I will ^athrow detestable filth on you

And ^bdisplay you as a wicked fool

And set you up as a ^cspectacle.

⁷“And it will be that all who see you

Will flee from you and say,

‘Nineveh is devastated!

^aWho will console her?’

Where will I seek comforters for you?”

⁸Are you better than ^1aNo-amon,

Which sits along the ^bwaters of the Nile,

With water surrounding her,

Whose rampart was ²the sea,

Whose wall consisted of ³the sea?

^91aEthiopia was her might,

And Egypt too, without end.

^bPut and ^cLubim were among ²her helpers.

¹⁰Yet she ^abecame an exile;

She went into captivity;

Also her ^binfants were dashed to pieces

^cAt the head of every street;

They ^dcast lots for her honorable men,

And all her great men were bound with fetters.

¹¹You too will become ^adrunk;

You will be ^bhidden.

You too will search for a strong defense from the enemy.

¹²All your fortifications are ^afig trees with ^1bripe fruit—

When shaken, they fall into the eater’s mouth.

¹³Behold, your people are ^awomen in your midst!

The gates of your land are ^bopened wide to your enemies;

Fire consumes your gate bars.

^14aDraw for yourself water for the siege!

^bStrengthen your fortifications!

Go into the clay and tread the mortar!

¹Take hold of the brick mold!

¹⁵There, ^afire will consume you;

The sword will cut you down;

It will ^bconsume you as the locust does.

Multiply yourself like the creeping locust,

Multiply yourself like the swarming locust.

¹⁶You have increased your ^atraders more than the stars of heaven—

The creeping locust ¹strips and flies away.

¹⁷Your ^1aguardsmen are like the swarming locust.

Your ^bmarshals are like a locust-swarm

Encamping in the stone walls on a cold day.

The sun rises, and they flee,

And the place where they are is not known.

¹⁸Your shepherds are ^asleeping, O ^bking of Assyria;

Your ^cmighty ones are ¹lying down.

Your people are ^dscattered on the mountains,

And there is no one to regather them.

¹⁹There is ^ano relief for your breakdown,

Your ^bwound is incurable.

All who hear the report about you

Will ^cclap their hands over you,

For on whom has not your evil passed continually?