
Nahum

   {1:1} The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the
Elkoshite. {1:2} Jehovah is a jealous God and avengeth; Jehovah
avengeth and is full of wrath; Jehovah taketh vengeance on his
adversaries, and he reserveth [wrath] for his enemies. {1:3} Jehovah is
slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means clear [the
guilty]: Jehovah hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and
the clouds are the dust of his feet. {1:4} He rebuketh the sea, and
maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and
Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. {1:5} The mountains
quake at him, and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at his
presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. {1:6} Who 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
asunder by him. {1:7} Jehovah is good, a stronghold in the day of
trouble; and he knoweth them that take refuge in him. {1:8} But with an
over-running flood he will make a full end of her place, and will
pursue his enemies into darkness. {1:9} What do ye devise against
Jehovah? he will make a full end; affliction shall not rise up the
second time. {1:10} For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with
their drink, they are consumed utterly as dry stubble. {1:11} There is
one gone forth out of thee, that deviseth evil against Jehovah, that
counselleth wickedness. {1:12} Thus saith 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 thee, I will afflict thee
no more. {1:13} And now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will
burst thy bonds in sunder. {1:14} And Jehovah hath given commandment
concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of
thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image; I will
make thy grave; for thou art vile. {1:15} Behold, upon the mountains
the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! Keep
thy feasts, O Judah, perform thy vows; for the wicked one shall no more
pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.



   {2:1} He that dasheth in pieces is come up against thee: keep the
fortress, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power
mightily. {2:2} For Jehovah restoreth the excellency of Jacob, as the
excellency of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out, and
destroyed their vine-branches. {2:3} The 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.
{2:4} The 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. {2:5} He remembereth his nobles: they stumble in their
march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the mantelet is
prepared. {2:6} The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is
dissolved. {2:7} And it is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried
away; and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, beating upon
their breasts. {2:8} But Nineveh hath been from of old like a pool of
water: yet they flee away. Stand, stand, [they cry]; but none looketh
back. {2:9} Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold; for
there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture. {2:10}
She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees
smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all
are waxed pale. {2:11} Where 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? {2:12} The 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.
{2:13} Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will
burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young
lions; and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy
messengers shall no more be heard.



   {3:1} Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and rapine; the
prey departeth not. {3:2} The noise of the whip, and the noise of the
rattling of wheels, and prancing horses, and bounding chariots, {3:3}
the 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;- {3:4} because
of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the
mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms,
and families through her witchcrafts. {3:5} Behold, I am against thee,
saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face;
and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
{3:6} And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile,
and will set thee as a gazing-stock. {3:7} And it shall come to pass,
that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say,
Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek
comforters for thee? {3:8} Art thou 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? {3:9} Ethiopia and
Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy
helpers. {3:10} Yet 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. {3:11} Thou also shalt be drunken; thou shalt
be hid; thou also shalt seek a stronghold because of the enemy. {3:12}
All thy fortresses shall be [like] fig-trees with the first-ripe figs:
if they be shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. {3:13}
Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women; the gates of thy
land are set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire hath devoured thy
bars. {3:14} Draw thee water for the siege; strengthen thy fortresses;
go into the clay, and tread the mortar; make strong the brickkiln.
{3:15} There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off;
it shall devour thee like the canker-worm: make thyself many as the
canker-worm; make thyself many as the locust. {3:16} Thou hast
multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm
ravageth, and fleeth away. {3:17} Thy princes are as the locusts, and
thy marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers, which encamp in the hedges
in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their
place is not known where they are. {3:18} Thy shepherds slumber, O king
of Assyria; thy nobles are at rest; thy people are scattered upon the
mountains, and there is none to gather them. {3:19} There is no
assuaging of thy hurt: thy wound is grievous: all that hear the report
of thee clap their hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy
wickedness passed continually?




