\NormalFont\ShortTitle{NACHUM}

{\MT Nachum



\par }\ChapOne{1}{\PP \VerseOne{1}The burden concerning Nineveh. The sefer chazon
{\ADD{(book of the vision)}} of Nachum of Elkosh.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{2}A jealous G-d and taking vengeance is
{\ND{Hashem}};

\par }{\Q an avenger is
{\ND{Hashem}}, Ba'al Chemah
{\ADD{(L-rd of Wrathful Fury)}};

\par }{\Q {\ND{Hashem}} will take vengeance on His adversaries,

\par }{\Q and He reserveth wrath for His enemies.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}{\ND{Hashem}} is slow to anger,

\par }{\Q and great in ko'ach,

\par }{\Q and will not at all leave the guilty unpunished;

\par }{\Q {\ND{Hashem}} hath His way in the whirlwind and in the tempest,

\par }{\Q and the anan
{\ADD{(clouds)}} are the dust of His feet.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}{\ND{Hashem}} rebuketh the yam, and drieth it up,

\par }{\Q and maketh all the neharot
{\ADD{(rivers)}} run dry;

\par }{\Q Bashan languisheth, and Carmel,

\par }{\Q and the flower of the Levanon fadeth.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}The mountains quake before
{\ND{Hashem}},

\par }{\Q and the hills melt away,

\par }{\Q and ha'aretz heaveth at His presence,

\par }{\Q yea, tevel
{\ADD{(the world)}}, and all that dwell therein.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{6}Who can stand before
{\ND{Hashem}}ʼs fury?

\par }{\Q And who can endure His charon af
{\ADD{(burning anger)}}?\FTNT{*}{{\FR 1:6 }{\FT{See
}}{\XT{Ro 1:18}}}

\par }{\Q His chemah
{\ADD{(wrath)}} is poured out like eish
{\ADD{(fire)}}

\par }{\Q and the tzurim
{\ADD{(rocks)}} are rent in pieces before Him.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}{\ND{Hashem}} is tov,

\par }{\Q a maoz
{\ADD{(stronghold)}} in the Yom Tzarah;

\par }{\Q and
{\ND{Hashem}} knoweth them that take refuge in Him.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}But with an overwhelming flood

\par }{\Q He will make an utter end of her\FTNT{†}{{\FR 1:8 }{\FT{Ninevehʼs}}} site,

\par }{\Q and
{\ND{Hashem}} shall pursue His enemies into choshech.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}Whatever plot ye against
{\ND{Hashem}},

\par }{\Q {\ND{Hashem}} will make an utter end of anyone doing it;

\par }{\Q tzarah
{\ADD{(affliction)}} will not arise a second time.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}For while they be twisted together as sirim
{\ADD{(thorns)}},

\par }{\Q and while they are drunken as drunkards,

\par }{\Q they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}There is one come out of thee,\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 1:11 }{\FT{See
}}{\XT{1:1}}}

\par }{\Q that imagineth evil against
{\ND{Hashem}},

\par }{\Q a yo'etz Beliya'al
{\ADD{(a counselor of Beliya'al)}}.\FTNT{§}{{\FR 1:11 }{\FT{i.e., Sennacherib}}}


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{12}Thus saith
{\ND{Hashem}}:

\par }{\Q Though they are strong, and likewise rabbim,

\par }{\Q yet shall they thus be cut down, and he\FTNT{*}{{\FR 1:12 }{\FT{the Assyrian}}} shall pass away.

\par }{\Q Though I have afflicted thee [O Yehudah],

\par }{\Q I will afflict thee no more.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}For now will I break his motah
{\ADD{(yoke)}} from off thee,

\par }{\Q and will break thy fetters in pieces.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{14}And
{\ND{Hashem}} hath given a command concerning thee,

\par }{\Q that no more of thy name be sown;\FTNT{†}{{\FR 1:14 }{\FT{i.e., to perpetuate his name}}}

\par }{\Q out of the bais of thy g-ds will I cut off

\par }{\Q the pesel
{\ADD{(graven image)}} and the molten image;

\par }{\Q I prepare thy kever
{\ADD{(grave)}};

\par }{\Q for thou art vile.




\par }\PoetryChap{2}{\Q \VerseOne{1}Hinei, upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth Besorah
{\ADD{(Good News)}},

\par }{\Q that publisheth Shalom!

\par }{\Q O Yehudah, keep thy chagim,

\par }{\Q fulfill thy nedarim;

\par }{\Q for the Beliya'al shall no more pass through thee;

\par }{\Q he is utterly cut off.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{2}A shatterer\FTNT{*}{{\FR 2:2 }{\FT{Ninevehʼs overpowering enemy}}} is come up before thy face [O Nineveh];

\par }{\Q guard thy fortress, watch the derech,

\par }{\Q fortify thy loins, marshal all thy koach
{\ADD{(power)}}.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}For
{\ND{Hashem}} is about to restore the eminence of Ya'akov,

\par }{\Q like the eminence of Yisroel;

\par }{\Q for plunderers have plundered them,

\par }{\Q and made their vine branches as shachat.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{4}The mogen
{\ADD{(shield)}} of his gibborim is made red,

\par }{\Q the anshei chayil
{\ADD{(valiant men)}} are in scarlet;

\par }{\Q the chariot shall flash like fire

\par }{\Q in the day of its array,

\par }{\Q and the spears shall be brandished.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}The chariot shall rage in the streets,

\par }{\Q they shall jostle one against another in the rechovot,

\par }{\Q they shall seem like flaming torches,

\par }{\Q they shall dart about like the lightnings.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}He\FTNT{†}{{\FR 2:6 }{\FT{the Assyrian king}}} shall remember his mighty ones;

\par }{\Q they stumble in their walk;

\par }{\Q they shall make haste to the chomah
{\ADD{(wall)}} of it,\FTNT{‡}{{\FR 2:6 }{\FT{Nineveh}}}

\par }{\Q and the defense shall be prepared.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}The sha'arei haneharot
{\ADD{(the gates of the rivers)}} shall be thrown open,

\par }{\Q and the heikhal
{\ADD{(palace)}} reels.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Her\FTNT{§}{{\FR 2:8 }{\FT{Ninevehʼs}}} golus
{\ADD{(exile)}} is decreed, she shall be carried away,

\par }{\Q her slave girls moaning like the kol yonim
{\ADD{(voice of doves)}},

\par }{\Q beating their breasts.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}But Nineveh is like a pool of mayim;

\par }{\Q and her mayim is draining away.

\par }{\Q Stop, stop, shall they cry;

\par }{\Q but no one turns back.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}Take ye the plunder of kesef, take the plunder of zahav;

\par }{\Q for there is no end of the treasures,

\par }{\Q heaps of kol keli chemdah
{\ADD{(every delightful vessel)}}.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{11}She is empty, and void, and stripped;

\par }{\Q and the lev melteth,

\par }{\Q and the knees give way,

\par }{\Q bodies tremble,

\par }{\Q and the faces of them all grow pale.


\par }{\Q \VS{12}Where is the ma'on arayot
{\ADD{(den of lions)}},

\par }{\Q and the feeding place of the young lions,

\par }{\Q where the aryeh, even the lioness,

\par }{\Q walked with their cubs, and none made them afraid?


\par }{\Q \VS{13}The aryeh did tear in pieces enough for his cubs,

\par }{\Q and strangled for his lionesses,

\par }{\Q and filled his lairs with prey,

\par }{\Q and his dens with torn flesh.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\PP \VS{14}Hineni, I am against thee [O Nineveh], saith
{\ND{Hashem}} Tzva'os, and I will burn your chariots in the smoke, and the cherev shall devour thy young lions; and I will cut off thy prey from ha'aretz, and the voice of thy malachim
{\ADD{(messengers)}} shall no more be heard.




\par }\PoetryChap{3}{\Q \VerseOne{1}Hoy
{\ADD{(woe)}} to the ir damim
{\ADD{(bloody city)}}!

\par }{\Q It is all full of lies and booty;

\par }{\Q no end to the plunder;


\par }{\Q \VS{2}The crack of the shot
{\ADD{(whip)}},

\par }{\Q and the noise of the rattling of the wheels,

\par }{\Q and of the prancing susim,

\par }{\Q and of the jolting merkavah
{\ADD{(chariot)}};


\par }{\Q \VS{3}The parash
{\ADD{(horsemen, cavalry)}} charging,

\par }{\Q the flash of the cherev and the glittering spear;

\par }{\Q and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of dead bodies;

\par }{\Q and there is no end of their geviyot
{\ADD{(corpses)}};

\par }{\Q they stumble over their geviyot;


\par }{\Q \VS{4}Because of the multitude of the harlotries of the alluring zonah,

\par }{\Q the ba'alat keshafim
{\ADD{(the mistress of sorceries)}},

\par }{\Q that enslaveth Goyim through her prostitutions,

\par }{\Q and mishpochot through her keshafim;


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{5}Hineni, I am against thee, saith
{\ND{Hashem}} Tzva'os;

\par }{\Q and I will lift thy skirts over thy faces,

\par }{\Q and I will show the Goyim thy nakedness,

\par }{\Q and the mamlachot thy shame.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}And I
{\ADD{(}}{\ND{Hashem}}{\ADD{)}} will cast abominable filth upon thee,

\par }{\Q and make thee contemptibly vile, and will make thee a spectacle.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee

\par }{\Q shall flee from thee, and say:

\par }{\Q Nineveh is in ruins; who will bemoan her?

\par }{\Q From where shall I seek menachamim
{\ADD{(comforters)}} for thee?


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{8}Art thou better than No Amon
{\ADD{(Thebes)}},

\par }{\Q that was situated on the Nile, that had the mayim round about it,

\par }{\Q whose rampart was the yam, and her waters were her chomah?


\par }{\Q \VS{9}Ethiopia and Mitzrayim were her strength, and it was boundless;

\par }{\Q Put and Luvim
{\ADD{(Libya)}} were her allies.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}Yet she went into golus,

\par }{\Q she went into captivity;

\par }{\Q her olalim also were dashed in pieces

\par }{\Q at the head of all the streets;

\par }{\Q and they cast goral
{\ADD{(lots)}} for her honorable men,

\par }{\Q and all her gedolim were bound in chains.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}Thou also shalt be drunken, thou shalt be hid,

\par }{\Q thou also shalt seek maoz from the enemy.


\par }{\Q \VS{12}All thy strongholds shall be like te'enim
{\ADD{(fig trees)}} with the first ripe figs;

\par }{\Q if they be shaken,

\par }{\Q they shall even fall into the peh
{\ADD{(mouth)}} of the ochel
{\ADD{(eater)}}.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}Hinei, thy troops in the midst of thee are nashim
{\ADD{(women)}};

\par }{\Q the gates of thy land

\par }{\Q shall be set wide open unto thine enemies;

\par }{\Q the eish shall devour thy
{\ADD{(gate)}} bars.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{14}Draw thee water for the matzor
{\ADD{(siege)}},

\par }{\Q fortify thy strongholds,

\par }{\Q go unto clay, and tread the mortar,

\par }{\Q repair the brickwork.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}There shall the eish devour thee,

\par }{\Q the cherev shall consume thee,

\par }{\Q it shall eat thee up like the grasshopper.

\par }{\Q Make thyself many as the grasshopper,

\par }{\Q make thyself many as the arbeh
{\ADD{(locust)}}.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}Thou hast multiplied thy merchants more than the kokhavim of HaShomayim;

\par }{\Q but, like the locust, they strip the land, then fly away.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{17}Thy commanders are as the swarming locusts,

\par }{\Q and thy officials as the great grasshoppers,

\par }{\Q which camp in the hedges on a cold day,

\par }{\Q but when the shemesh ariseth they flee away,

\par }{\Q and their place is whereabouts unknown.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{18}Thy ro'im
{\ADD{(shepherds)}} slumber, O melech of Ashur
{\ADD{(Assyria)}};

\par }{\Q thy nobles sleep;

\par }{\Q thy people are scattered upon the mountains,

\par }{\Q and no man gathereth them.


\par }{\Q \VS{19}There is no healing of thy shever
{\ADD{(fracture, injury)}};

\par }{\Q thy wound is grievous;

\par }{\Q all that hear the news of thee

\par }{\Q shall clap their hands over thy fall;

\par }{\Q for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed tamid
{\ADD{(continually)}}?

\par }