Nahum 1:1–3:19

God Is Awesome

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

²A ^ajealous and avenging God is the Lord;

The Lord is ^bavenging and ¹wrathful.

The Lord takes ^cvengeance on His adversaries,

And He reserves wrath for His enemies.

³The Lord is ^aslow to anger and great in power,

And the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.

In ^bwhirlwind and storm is His way,

And ^cclouds are the dust beneath His feet.

⁴He ^arebukes the sea and makes it dry;

He dries up all the rivers.

^bBashan and Carmel wither;

The blossoms of Lebanon wither.

⁵Mountains ^aquake because of Him

And the hills ^bdissolve;

Indeed the earth is ^cupheaved by His presence,

The ^dworld and all the inhabitants in it.

^6aWho can stand before His indignation?

Who can endure the ^bburning of His anger?

His ^cwrath is poured out like fire

And the ^drocks are broken up by Him.

⁷The Lord is ^agood,

A stronghold in the day of trouble,

And ^bHe knows those who take refuge in Him.

⁸But with an ^aoverflowing flood

He will make a complete end of ¹its site,

And will pursue His enemies into ^bdarkness.

⁹Whatever you ^adevise against the Lord,

He will make a ^bcomplete end 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 completely withered.

¹¹From you has gone forth

One who ^aplotted evil against the Lord,

A ^1bwicked counselor.

¹²Thus says the Lord,

“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 tear off your shackles.”

¹⁴The Lord has issued a command concerning ¹you:

“²Your name will ^ano longer be perpetuated.

I will cut off ^3bidol and ⁴image

From the house of your gods.

I will prepare your ^cgrave,

For you are contemptible.”

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

Who announces peace!

^bCelebrate your feasts, O Judah;

Pay your vows.

For ^cnever again will the ²wicked one pass through you;

He is ^dcut off completely.

Chapter 2

The Overthrow of Nineveh

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

Man the fortress, watch the road;

³Strengthen your back, ⁴summon all your strength.

²For the Lord will restore the ^asplendor of Jacob

^bLike the splendor of Israel,

Even though devastators have devastated them

And ^cdestroyed their vine branches.

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

The warriors are dressed in ^ascarlet,

The chariots are enveloped in ²flashing steel

³When he is prepared 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 ^anobles;

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 dissolved.

⁷It is fixed:

She is stripped, she is carried away,

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

^bBeating on their ¹breasts.

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

Now they are fleeing;

“Stop, stop,”

But ^ano one turns back.

⁹Plunder the silver!

Plunder the ^agold!

For there is no limit to the treasure—

Wealth from every kind of desirable object.

¹⁰She is ^aemptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste!

^bHearts are melting and knees knocking!

Also anguish is in ¹the whole body

And all their ^cfaces are grown 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 disturb them?

¹²The lion tore enough for his cubs,

¹Killed enough for his lionesses,

And filled his lairs with prey

And his dens with torn flesh.

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

Chapter 3

Nineveh’s Complete Ruin

^1aWoe to the bloody city, completely full of lies and pillage;

Her prey never departs.

²The ^anoise of the whip,

The noise of the rattling of the wheel,

Galloping horses

And ¹bounding chariots!

³Horsemen charging,

Swords flashing, ^aspears gleaming,

^bMany slain, a mass of corpses,

And ^1ccountless dead bodies—

They stumble over ²the 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 the Lord of hosts;

“And I will ^1blift up your skirts over your face,

And ^cshow to the nations your nakedness

And to the kingdoms your disgrace.

⁶“I will ^athrow ¹filth on you

And ^bmake you vile,

And set you up as a ^cspectacle.

⁷“And it will come about that all who see you

Will ¹shrink from you and say,

‘Nineveh is devastated!

^aWho will grieve for her?’

Where will I seek comforters for you?”

⁸Are you better than ^1aNo-amon,

Which was situated by the ^bwaters of the Nile,

With water surrounding her,

Whose rampart was ²the sea,

Whose wall consisted of the sea?

^9aEthiopia was her might,

And Egypt too, without limits.

^bPut and ^cLubim were among ¹her helpers.

¹⁰Yet she ^abecame an exile,

She went into captivity;

Also her ^bsmall children 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 refuge 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!

Take 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 hordes of grasshoppers

Settling 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 ^cnobles are lying 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 ¹about you

Will ^cclap their hands over you,

For on whom has not your evil passed continually?