MKJV - Nahum

Chapter 1

1:1  The burden against Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

1:2  God is jealous, and the LORD revenges; the LORD revenges and is a possessor of wrath. The LORD takes vengeance against His foes, and He keeps wrath against His enemies.

1:3  The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power. And He does not by any means acquit the guilty. The LORD has His way in the tempest and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.

1:4  He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon withers.

1:5  The mountains quake from Him, and the hills melt, and the earth is lifted up from before Him; even the world and all who dwell in it.

1:6  Who can stand before His fury? And who can stand up in the heat of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken down because of Him.

1:7  The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him.

1:8  But with an overflowing flood He will make an utter end of its place, and darkness shall pursue His enemies.

1:9  What are you plotting against the LORD? He will make an utter end; affliction shall not rise up the second time.

1:10  For as thorns are woven together, and as their drunkards are drunken, they shall be devoured like stubble fully dry.

1:11  One who devises evil against the LORD has come forth from you, one counseling worthlessness.

1:12  So says the LORD: Though secure and likewise many, yet they shall be cut down, and he shall pass away. And though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.

1:13  For now I will break his yoke off you, and will burst your bonds apart.

1:14  And the LORD has commanded concerning you, Not one of your name shall be sown any more; I will cut off the graven image and the molten image out of the house of your gods. I will make your grave; for you are despised.

1:15  Behold upon the mountains the feet of Him who brings good news, making it heard, Peace! O Judah, keep your appointed feasts, fulfill your vows; for the wicked shall pass through you no more; he is completely cut off.

Chapter 2

2:1  The scattering one is coming up against your face. Guard the rampart. Watch the way, make your loins strong, firm up your power mightily.

2:2  For the LORD has turned away the glory of Jacob, as the glory of Israel. For the plunderers have plundered them, and have destroyed their vine branches.

2:3  The shield of his mighty ones has become red; the mighty men are in scarlet; the chariots flame like iron torches in the day of his preparation. And the cypresses are made to quiver.

2:4  The chariots race madly in the streets; they shall run to and fro in the open squares. Their appearance is like torches; they dart about like lightnings.

2:5  He shall remember his nobles; they shall stumble in their walking; they shall make haste to its wall, and the covering shall be prepared.

2:6  The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be melted.

2:7  And she who stood firm is uncovered and caused to go away. And her slave women are moaning like the sound of doves, beating their breast.

2:8  But Nineveh is like a pool of water from her days; yet they are fleeing. Halt! Halt! they cry, but none looks back.

2:9  Seize the silver; seize the gold; for there is no end to the treasures; riches from all precious vessels.

2:10  She is empty and void and waste; and the heart melts, and the knees knock, and trembling is on all the loins; and all their faces collect heat.

2:11  Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, and the lion's cub, and no one made them afraid?

2:12  The lion tears in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangles for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with torn prey.

2:13  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. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more.

Chapter 3

3:1  Woe to the bloody city! It is a lie, and full of plunder; the prey is not withdrawn.

3:2  The sound of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of a wheel, and of a galloping horse, and of a bounding chariot.

3:3  The horseman lifts up both the bright sword and the lightning of the spear. And many are slain, and there are a mass of dead bodies, and no end of corpses; they stumble on their dead bodies,

3:4  because of the many harlotries of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of sorceries who sells nations by her harlotries, and families by her sorceries.

3:5  Behold, I am against you, says the LORD of hosts; and I will uncover your skirts upon your face. And I will cause the nations to see your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.

3:6  And I will cast filth upon you, and will dishonor you, and will set you as a gazing-stock.

3:7  And it shall be that all those who look upon you shall flee from you, and say, Nineveh is laid waste; who will weep for her? From where shall I seek comforters for you?

3:8  Are you better than No Amon, that dwelt among the Nile branches, waters all around her, whose rampart was the sea, the waters her wall?

3:9  Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, yea, without end. Put and Lubim were among your helpers.

3:10  Yet she went into exile; she went into captivity, and her young children also were dashed to 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  You also shall be drunken; you shall be hidden, you also shall seek strength because of the enemy.

3:12  All your strongholds shall be like fig trees with the first fruits; if they are shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.

3:13  Behold, your people in your midst are women. The gates of your land shall surely be opened to your enemies; the fire shall devour your bars.

3:14  Draw waters for the siege; fortify your strongholds; go into the clay, and tread the mortar; make the brick mold strong.

3:15  There fire shall devour you; the sword shall cut you off, it shall eat you up like the locust. Make yourself as many as the larvae, multiply yourself like the locusts.

3:16  You have multiplied your merchants above the stars of heaven; the locust larvae shall strip off and fly away.

3:17  Your rulers are like the locusts, and your officials are a swarm of locusts that camp in the hedges in the cold day; the sun rises, and they flee, and the place where they are is not known.

3:18  Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria. Your nobles are at rest; your people are scattered upon the mountains, and no one is gathering.

3:19  There is no healing of your fracture; your wound is grievous; all who hear the news of you shall clap the hands over you; for upon whom has your wickedness not passed continually?