- God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; the Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserves wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languishes. The mountains quake at him and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? And who can stand in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knows them that trust in him. But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
- What do you imagine against the Lord? He will make an utter end. Affliction shall not rise up the second time. For while they are folded as thorns, and while they are drunk as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. There is one come out of you that imagines evil against the Lord, a wicked counselor. Thus says the Lord: Though they are quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. For now will I break his yoke from off you and will burst your bonds asunder. And the Lord has given a commandment concerning you, that no more of your name be sown. Out of the house of your gods will I cut off the engraved image and the molten image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.
- Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace. O Judah, keep your solemn feasts, perform your vows, for the wicked shall no more pass through you — he is utterly cut off. He that dashes in pieces has come up before your face. Keep the stronghold, watch the way. Make your loins strong, fortify your power mightily.
- For the Lord has turned away the excellence of Jacob as the excellence of Israel, for the emptiers have emptied them out and marred their vine branches. The shield of his mighty men is made red; the valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken. The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against another in the broad ways. They shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings. He shall recount his worthies — they shall stumble in their walk, they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defense shall be prepared. The gates of the rivers shall be opened and the palace shall be dissolved. And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, beating upon their breasts. But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water, yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand! — shall they cry, but none shall look back. Take the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold. For there is no end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture. She is empty, and void, and waste. And the heart melts, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness. Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions? Where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion’s whelp, and none made them afraid? The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey and his dens with plunder. Behold, I am against you, says the Lord 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.
- Woe to the bloody city, it is all full of lies and robbery, the prey departs not. The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the galloping horses, and of the jumping chariots, the horseman lifts up both the bright sword and the glittering spear, and there is a multitude of slain and a great number of carcasses. And there is no end of their corpses. They stumble upon their corpses because 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.
- Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of Hosts, and I will uncover your skirts upon your face. And I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon you and make you vile, and will set you as a spectacle. And 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?
- Are you better than populous No that was situated among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea and her wall was from the sea? Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were your helpers. Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets. And they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. You also shall be drunk; you shall be hidden. You also shall seek strength because of the enemy. All your strongholds shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs; if they are shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.
- Behold, your people in your midst are women. The gates of your land shall be set wide open unto your enemies. The fire shall devour your bars. Draw waters for the siege, fortify your strongholds. Go into clay, and tread the mortar; make strong the brickkiln. There shall the fire devour you. The sword shall cut you off; it shall eat you up like the cankerworm. Make yourself many as the cankerworm; make yourself many as the locusts. You have multiplied your merchants above the stars of heaven. The cankerworm spoils and flies away. Your crowned are as the locusts, and your captains as the great grasshoppers — which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun arises they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
- Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria. Your nobles shall dwell in the dust. Your people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathers them. There is no healing of your bruise, your wound is grievous. All that hear the report of you shall clap the hands over you. For upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?
NAHUM
The burden of Nineveh; the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.