Nahum 1 - 3 - Legacy Standard Bible

Nahum 1 - 3

Yahweh’s Wrath Against Nineveh

The oracle of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

א Aleph

A jealous and avenging God is Yahweh;

Yahweh is avenging and wrathful.

Yahweh is avenging against His adversaries,

And He keeps His anger for His enemies.

Yahweh is slow to anger and great in power,

And Yahweh will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.

ב Beth

In whirlwind and storm is His way,

And clouds are the dust beneath His feet.

ג Gimel

He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;

He dries up all the rivers.

Bashan and Carmel languish;

The blossoms of Lebanon languish.

ה He

Mountains quake because of Him,

ו Vav

And the hills melt;

Indeed the earth is upheaved by His presence,

The world and all the inhabitants in it.

ז Zayin

Who can stand before His indignation?

Who can endure the burning of His anger?

ח Heth

His wrath is poured out like fire,

And the rocks are torn down by Him.

ט Teth

Yahweh is good,

A strong defense in the day of distress,

י Yodh

And He knows those who take refuge in Him.

But with an overflowing flood

כ Kaph

He will make a complete destruction of its place

And will pursue His enemies into darkness.

Whatever you devise against Yahweh,

He will make a complete destruction of it.

Distress will not rise up twice.

Like tangled thorns,

And like those who are drunken with their drink,

They are consumed

As stubble fully dried up.

From you has gone forth

One who devised evil against Yahweh,

A vile counselor.

12 Thus says Yahweh,

“Though they are at full strength and likewise many,

Even so, they will be cut off and pass away.

Though I have afflicted you,

I will afflict you no longer.

So now, I will break his yoke bar from upon you,

And I will break your bands apart.”

And Yahweh has commanded concerning you:

“There will no longer be seed from your name.

From the house of your gods,

I will cut off graven image and molten image.

I will prepare your grave,

For you are contemptible.”

Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who proclaims good news,

Who announces peace!

Celebrate your feasts, O Judah;

Pay your vows.

For never again will the vile one pass through you;

He is cut off completely.

Yahweh’s Destruction of Nineveh

The one who scatters has come up against you.

Guard the fortification, watch the road;

Strengthen your loins, instill your power with exceeding courage.

For Yahweh will restore the majesty of Jacob

Like the majesty of Israel,

Even though those who empty them have emptied them to destruction

And ruined their vine branches.

The shields of his mighty men are colored red,

The valiant men are dressed in scarlet,

The chariots are enveloped in flashing steel

When he is set up to march,

And the cypress spears are brandished.

The chariots race madly in the streets;

They rush wildly in the squares;

Their appearance is like torches;

They dash to and fro like lightning flashes.

He remembers his mighty ones;

They stumble in their march;

They hurry to her wall,

And the mantelet is set up.

The gates of the rivers are opened,

And the palace is melted away.

So it stands fixed:

She is exiled, she is carried away,

And her maidservants are moaning like the sound of doves,

Beating on their hearts.

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

Now they are fleeing;

“Stand! Stand!”

But no one turns back.

Plunder the silver!

Plunder the gold!

And there is no limit to the treasure—

Wealth from every kind of desirable object.

She is emptied! Yes, she is emptied out and eviscerated!

Hearts are melting and knees knocking!

Also anguish is in all their loins,

And all their faces turn pale!

Where is the den of the lions

And the feeding place of the young lions,

Where the lion, lioness, and lion’s cub prowled,

With nothing to make them tremble?

The lion tore enough for its cubs

And strangled enough for its lionesses

And filled its lairs with torn up prey

And its dens with torn up flesh.

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

Woe to Nineveh

Woe to the city of bloodshed, completely full of deception and pillage;

Her prey never departs.

The sound of the whip,

And the sound of the rumbling of the wheel,

Galloping horses,

And bounding chariots!

Horsemen charging,

And swords flaming, and spears flashing,

Many slain, a mass of corpses,

And there is no end to dead bodies—

They stumble over the dead bodies!

All because of the many harlotries of the harlot,

The charming one, the mistress of sorceries,

Who sells nations by her harlotries

And families by her sorceries.

“Behold, I am against you,” declares Yahweh of hosts;

“And I will uncover your skirts over your face

And show to the nations your nakedness

And to the kingdoms your disgrace.

I will throw detestable filth on you

And display you as a wicked fool

And set you up as a spectacle.

And it will be that all who see you

Will flee from you and say,

‘Nineveh is devastated!

Who will console her?’

Where will I seek comforters for you?”

Are you better than No‑amon,

Which sits along the waters of the Nile,

With water surrounding her,

Whose rampart was the sea,

Whose wall consisted of the sea?

Ethiopia was her might,

And Egypt too, without end.

Put and Lubim were among her helpers.

Yet she became an exile;

She went into captivity;

Also her infants were dashed to pieces

At the head of every street;

They cast lots for her honorable men,

And all her great men were bound with fetters.

You too will become drunk;

You will be hidden.

You too will search for a strong defense from the enemy.

All your fortifications are fig trees with ripe fruit—

When shaken, they fall into the eater’s mouth.

Behold, your people are women in your midst!

The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies;

Fire consumes your gate bars.

Draw for yourself water for the siege!

Strengthen your fortifications!

Go into the clay and tread the mortar!

Take hold of the brick mold!

There, fire will consume you;

The sword will cut you down;

It will consume you as the locust does.

Multiply yourself like the creeping locust,

Multiply yourself like the swarming locust.

You have increased your traders more than the stars of heaven—

The creeping locust strips and flies away.

Your guardsmen are like the swarming locust.

Your marshals are like a locust‑swarm

Encamping in the stone walls on a cold day.

The sun rises, and they flee,

And the place where they are is not known.

Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria;

Your mighty ones are lying down.

Your people are scattered on the mountains,

And there is no one to regather them.

There is no relief for your breakdown,

Your wound is incurable.

All who hear the report about you

Will clap their hands over you,

For on whom has not your evil passed continually?