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 Nahum

1 The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

2Jehovah is a jealous God and avenges; Jehovah avenges and is full of wrath; Jehovah takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserves wrath for his enemies. 3Jehovah is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means clear the guilty: Jehovah has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. 4He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers: Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes. 5The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at his presence, yes, the world, and all that dwell therein. 6Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken in pieces by him. 7Jehovah is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows them that take refuge in him. 8But with an over-running flood he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

9What do you devise against Jehovah? he will make a full end; affliction shall not rise up the second time. 10For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly as dry stubble. 11There is one gone forth out of you, that devises evil against Jehovah, that counsels wickedness. 12This says Jehovah: Though they be in full strength, and likewise many, even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. 13And now will I break his yoke from off you, and will burst your bonds apart. 14And Jehovah has given commandment concerning you, that no more of your name be sown: out of the house of your gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image; I will make your grave; for you are vile. 15Behold, upon the mountains the feet of him that brought good tidings, that published peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah, perform your vows; for the wicked one shall no more pass through you; he is utterly cut off.

 

2 He that dashes in pieces is come up against you: keep the fortress, watch the way, make your loins strong, fortify your power mightily. 2For Jehovah restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out, and destroyed their vine-branches. 3The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the cypress spears are brandished. 4The chariots rage in the streets; they rush to and fro in the broad ways: the appearance of them is like torches; they run like the lightnings. 5He remembers his nobles: they stumble in their march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the defense is prepared. 6The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved. 7And it is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, beating upon their breasts. 8But Nineveh has been from of old like a pool of water: yet they flee away. Stand, stand, they cry; but none looks back. 9Take the plunder of silver, take the plunder of gold; for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture. 10She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melts, and the knees strike together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all are become pale.

11Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion’s whelp, and none made them afraid? 12The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with prey, and his dens with ravin. 13Behold, I am against you, says Jehovah of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no more be heard.

 

3 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and rapine; the prey departs not. 2The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses, and bounding chariots, 3the horseman mounting, and the flashing sword, and the glittering spear, and a multitude of slain, and a great heap of corpses, and there is no end of the bodies; they stumble upon their bodies;-- 4because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that sells nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. 5Behold, I am against you, says Jehovah of hosts, and I will uncover your skirts upon your face; and I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame. 6And I will cast abominable filth upon you, and make you vile, and will set you as a gazing-stock. 7And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon you shall flee from you, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? from where shall I seek comforters for you?

8Are you better than No-amon, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about her; whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was of the sea? 9E-thi-o-pi-a and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were your helpers. 10Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity; her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. 11You also shall be drunken; you shall be hid; you also shall seek a stronghold because of the enemy. 12All your fortresses shall be like fig-trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. 13Behold, your people in the midst of you are women; the gates of your land are set wide open unto your enemies: the fire has devoured your bars. 14Draw water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar; make strong the brick kiln. 15There shall the fire devour you; the sword shall cut you off; it shall devour you like the canker-worm: make yourself many as the canker-worm; make yourself many as the locust. 16You have multiplied your merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm ravages, and flees away. 17Your princes are as the locusts, and your marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers, which encamp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun arises they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. 18Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; your nobles are at rest; your people are scattered upon the mountains, and there is none to gather them. 19There is no assuaging of your hurt: your wound is grievous: all that hear the report of you clap their hands over you; for upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?

 

 

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  All text copyright © 2005 Aaron Randall. All rights reserved.  Photos, unless otherwise credited, are the property of the auth, all rights reserved.  Originally posted February 24, 2004.  Revised: April 07, 2010.