Nahum — Legacy Standard Bible

Yahweh’s Wrath Against Nineveh

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

א 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.In ^bwhirlwind and storm is His way,And ^cclouds are the dust beneath His feet.

ג Gimel

⁴He ^arebukes the sea and makes it dry;He dries up all the rivers.^bBashan and Carmel languish;The blossoms of Lebanon languish.

ה He

⁵Mountains ^aquake because of Him,And the hills ^bmelt;Indeed the earth is ^cupheaved by His presence,The ^dworld and all the inhabitants in it.

ז Zayin

⁶^aWho can stand before His indignation?Who can endure the ^bburning of His anger?His ^cwrath is poured out like fire,And the ^drocks are torn down by Him.

ט Teth

⁷Yahweh is ^agood,A strong defense in the day of distress,And ^bHe knows those who take refuge in Him.⁸But with an ^aoverflowing floodHe will make a complete destruction of ¹its placeAnd will pursue His enemies into ^bdarkness.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 ^cconsumedAs stubble fully dried up.¹¹From you has gone forthOne who ^adevised evil against Yahweh,A ¹^,^bvile 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.

Yahweh’s Destruction of Nineveh

2¹The 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 destructionAnd ^cruined their vine branches.³The shields of ¹his mighty men are colored red,The valiant men are dressed in ^a^,²scarlet,The chariots are enveloped in ³flashing steel⁴When 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 lionsAnd 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 cubsAnd strangled enough for its lionessesAnd filled its lairs with torn up preyAnd 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.”

Woe to Nineveh

3^aWoe 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 harlotriesAnd families by her sorceries.⁵“Behold, ^aI am against you,” declares Yahweh of hosts;“And I will ^buncover your skirts over your faceAnd ^cshow to the nations your nakednessAnd to the kingdoms your disgrace.⁶“I will ^athrow detestable filth on youAnd ^bdisplay you as a wicked foolAnd set you up as a ^cspectacle.⁷“And it will be that all who see youWill flee from you and say,‘Nineveh is devastated!^aWho will console her?’Where will I seek comforters for you?”⁸Are you better than ¹^,^aNo-amon,Which sits along the ^bwaters of the Nile,With water surrounding her,Whose rampart was ²the sea,Whose wall consisted of ³the sea?⁹¹^,^aEthiopia 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 ¹^,^bripe 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.¹⁴^aDraw 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 ¹^,^aguardsmen are like the swarming locust.Your ^bmarshals are like a locust-swarmEncamping 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 youWill ^cclap their hands over you,For on whom has not your evil passed continually?