Nahum

1

¹ The burden concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
² Jehovah is a jealous God and One who avenges; / Jehovah avenges and is full of wrath; / Jehovah takes vengeance on His adversaries, / And reserves wrath for His enemies.
³ Jehovah is long-suffering and great in power / And will by no means clear the guilty. / Jehovah — His way is in the whirlwind and in the storm, / And the clouds are the dust of His feet.
⁴ He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, / And He dries up all the rivers. / Bashan and Carmel languish, / And the sprout of Lebanon languishes.
⁵ The mountains quake because of Him, / And the hills melt, / And the earth is heaved up at His presence, / Indeed the world, and all that inhabit it.
⁶ Who can stand before His indignation, / And who can maintain himself in the fierceness of His anger? / His wrath is poured out like fire, / And the rocks are broken down by Him.
⁷ Jehovah is good, / A stronghold in a day of distress; / And He knows those who take refuge in Him.
⁸ But with an overflowing flood / He will make a full end of her place, / And He will pursue His enemies into darkness.
⁹ What do you devise against Jehovah? / He will make a full end; / Distress will not arise a second time.
¹⁰ For though they are entangled like thorns / And like those drunken with their drink, / They will be consumed as fully as dry stubble.
¹¹ One went forth from you / Who devises evil against Jehovah, / Who counsels wickedness.
¹² Thus says Jehovah, / Though they are complete in number and even numerous, / Even so they will be cut down; and they will pass away. / And though I have afflicted you, / I will afflict you no more.
¹³ And now I will break his yoke from off you / And will snap your bonds asunder.
¹⁴ And Jehovah has commanded concerning you: / No more of your name will be sown; / Out of the house of your gods I will cut off / The graven idol and the molten idol; / I will make your grave, for you are worthless.
¹⁵ See, upon the mountains / The feet of him who bears the glad news, / Who announces peace! / Keep your feasts, O Judah; / Complete your vows; / For the wicked one will never again / Pass through you; / He will be completely cut off.

2

¹ He who scatters has come up before you: / Keep the fortress, / Watch the way, / Strengthen the loins, / Fortify the power greatly.
² For Jehovah restores / The excellency of Jacob / As the excellency of Israel; / For the emptiers have emptied them out / And destroyed their vine branches.
³ The shield of His mighty men is red; / The valiant men are clad in scarlet; / The chariots flash with the shining of steel / In the day of His preparation, / And the spears are brandished.
⁴ In the streets the chariots rush madly; / They dash to and fro in the open squares; / Their appearance is like that of torches; / They dart like lightning.
⁵ The Assyrian king remembers his glorious ones: / They stumble in their march; / They hasten to the wall of the city, / But the besiegers’ shelter is prepared.
⁶ The gates of the rivers are opened, / And the palace is dissolved.
⁷ And it is determined: She is uncovered; she is carried away; / And her maidens moan, / As with the sound of doves, / Beating their breasts.
⁸ Though Nineveh has been like a pool of water all her days, / Now they are fleeing. / Stand! Stand! But no one turns back.
⁹ Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! / And there is no end to what has been prepared. / Oh, the glory of all the desirable vessels!
¹⁰ Emptiness and void and waste! / And the heart melts, and the knees knock, / And anguish is in all the loins, / And the faces of all of them become pale.
¹¹ Where is the den of lions / And the feeding place of young lions, / Where the lion and the lioness walked, / And the lion’s whelp; and no one frightened them?
¹² The lion tore in pieces, enough for his whelps, / And strangled for his lionesses / And filled his caves with torn prey / And his dens with torn animals.
¹³ Indeed I am against you, / Declares Jehovah of hosts; / And I will burn your chariots in smoke, / And the sword will devour your young lions; / And I will cut off your prey from the earth; / And the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.

3

¹ Woe to the bloody city! / She is all full of lies and pillage; / The prey does not depart.
² The sound of the whip, / And the sound of the rattling wheel; / And the horse galloping, / And the chariot jolting by,
³ The horseman making the horse to rear up, / And the sword flashing, / And the spear glittering; / And a multitude of the slain, / And a mass of corpses, / And no end to the bodies — / They stumble among their bodies.
⁴ This because of the multitude of harlotries / Of the well-favored harlot, / The mistress of sorceries, / Who sells nations by her harlotries / And families by her sorceries.
⁵ Indeed I am against you, declares Jehovah of hosts; / And I will throw open your skirts upon your face, / And I will show the nations your nakedness, / And the kingdoms your shame.
⁶ And I will cast abominable filth upon you / And make you appear foolish and make you like a spectacle.
⁷ And everyone who sees you / Will flee from you and say, / Nineveh is laid waste. / Who will lament for her? / Where will I seek / Some to comfort you?
⁸ Are you better than No-amon, / Who sat beside the canals / With waters all around her, / Whose bulwark was the sea / And water was her wall?
⁹ Cush was her strength, / As well as Egypt, and it was without end; / Put and the Libyans / Were among her helpers.
¹⁰ She too was carried away; / She went into captivity; / Her little ones too were dashed to pieces / At the head of every street, / And for her nobles / They cast lots, / And all her great men / Were bound in chains.
¹¹ You too will be drunken; / You will be hidden. / You too will seek / A stronghold from the enemy.
¹² All your fortresses will be like fig trees / With first ripe figs: / If they are shaken, they will fall / Into the mouth of the eater.
¹³ Indeed your people are like women / In the midst of you; / Unto your enemies the gates of your land / Are wide open; / Fire devours your bars.
¹⁴ Draw for yourself water for the siege! / Strengthen your fortresses! / Go into the clay, / And tread in the mortar! / Make the brick kiln ready!
¹⁵ There will the fire devour you; / The sword will cut you off; / It will devour you like the locust. / Enlarge yourself like the locust; / Enlarge yourself like the locust swarm.
¹⁶ You have multiplied your merchants / Like the stars of heaven; / The locust strips everything and flies away.
¹⁷ Your princes are like the locust swarm, / And your officials are like hordes of locusts, / Which camp in the hedges / On a cold day, / But when the sun arises, they flee away, / And the place where they are is unknown.
¹⁸ Your shepherds slumber, / O king of Assyria; / Your nobles sleep. / Your people are scattered upon the mountains, / And there is no one to gather them.
¹⁹ There is no alleviating of your injury; / Your wound is grievous. / All who hear the report of you / Clap their hands over you; / For upon whom has your wickedness / Not passed continually?