NETfree - Nahum

Chapter 1

1:1  The oracle against Nineveh; the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:

1:2  The LORD is a zealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and very angry. The LORD takes vengeance against his foes; he sustains his rage against his enemies.

1:3  The LORD is slow to anger but great in power; the LORD will certainly not allow the wicked to go unpunished. He marches out in the whirlwind and the raging storm; dark storm clouds billow like dust under his feet.

1:4  He shouts a battle cry against the sea and makes it dry up; he makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither; the blossom of Lebanon withers.

1:5  The mountains tremble before him, the hills convulse; the earth is laid waste before him, the world and all its inhabitants are laid waste.

1:6  No one can withstand his indignation! No one can resist his fierce anger! His wrath is poured out like volcanic fire, boulders are broken up as he approaches.

1:7  The LORD is good - indeed, he is a fortress in time of distress, and he protects those who seek refuge in him.

1:8  But with an overwhelming flood he will make a complete end of Nineveh; he will drive his enemies into darkness.

1:9  Whatever you plot against the LORD, he will completely destroy! Distress will not arise a second time.

1:10  Surely they will be totally consumed like entangled thorn bushes, like the drink of drunkards, like very dry stubble.

1:11  From you, O Nineveh, one has marched forth who plots evil against the LORD, a wicked military strategist.

1:12  This is what the LORD says: "Even though they are powerful - and what is more, even though their army is numerous - nevertheless, they will be destroyed and trickle away! Although I afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.

1:13  And now, I will break Assyria's yoke bar from your neck; I will tear apart the shackles that are on you."

1:14  The LORD has issued a decree against you: "Your dynasty will come to an end. I will destroy the idols and images in the temples of your gods. I will desecrate your grave - because you are accursed!"

1:15  Look! A herald is running on the mountains! A messenger is proclaiming deliverance: "Celebrate your sacred festivals, O Judah! Fulfill your sacred vows to praise God! For never again will the wicked Assyrians invade you, they have been completely destroyed."

Chapter 2

2:1  The watchmen of Nineveh shout: "An enemy who will scatter you is marching out to attack you!" "Guard the rampart! Watch the road! Prepare yourselves for battle! Muster your mighty strength!"

2:2  For the LORD will restore the majesty of Jacob, as well as the majesty of Israel, though their enemies have plundered them and have destroyed their fields.

2:3  The shields of his warriors are dyed red; the mighty soldiers are dressed in scarlet garments. The metal fittings of the chariots shine like fire on the day of battle; the soldiers brandish their spears.

2:4  The chariots race madly through the streets, they rush back and forth in the broad plazas; they look like lightning bolts, they dash here and there like flashes of lightning.

2:5  The commander orders his officers; they stumble as they advance; they rush to the city wall and they set up the covered siege tower.

2:6  The sluice gates are opened; the royal palace is deluged and dissolves.

2:7  Nineveh is taken into exile and is led away; her slave girls moan like doves while they beat their breasts.

2:8  Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days, but now her people are running away; she cries out: "Stop! Stop!" - but no one turns back.

2:9  Her conquerors cry out: "Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!" There is no end to the treasure; riches of every kind of precious thing.

2:10  Destruction, devastation, and desolation! Their hearts faint, their knees tremble, each stomach churns, each face turns pale!

2:11  Where now is the den of the lions, the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion, lioness, and lion cub once prowled and no one disturbed them?

2:12  The lion tore apart as much prey as his cubs needed and strangled prey to provide food for his lionesses; he filled his lairs with prey and his dens with torn flesh.

2:13  "I am against you!" declares the LORD who commands armies: "I will burn your chariots with fire; the sword will devour your young lions; you will no longer prey upon the land; the voices of your messengers will no longer be heard."

Chapter 3

3:1  Woe to the city guilty of bloodshed! She is full of lies; she is filled with plunder; she has hoarded her spoil!

3:2  The chariot drivers will crack their whips; the chariot wheels will shake the ground; the chariot horses will gallop; the war chariots will bolt forward!

3:3  The charioteers will charge ahead; their swords will flash and their spears will glimmer! There will be many people slain; there will be piles of the dead, and countless casualties - so many that people will stumble over the corpses.

3:4  "Because you have acted like a wanton prostitute - a seductive mistress who practices sorcery, who enslaves nations by her harlotry, and entices peoples by her sorcery -

3:5  I am against you," declares the LORD who commands armies. "I will strip off your clothes! I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms;

3:6  I will pelt you with filth; I will treat you with contempt; I will make you a public spectacle.

3:7  Everyone who sees you will turn away from you in disgust; they will say, 'Nineveh has been devastated! Who will lament for her?' There will be no one to comfort you!"

3:8  You are no more secure than Thebes - she was located on the banks of the Nile; the waters surrounded her, her rampart was the sea, the water was her wall.

3:9  Cush and Egypt had limitless strength; Put and the Libyans were among her allies.

3:10  Yet she went into captivity as an exile; even her infants were smashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her nobility; all her dignitaries were bound with chains.

3:11  You too will act like drunkards; you will go into hiding; you too will seek refuge from the enemy.

3:12  All your fortifications will be like fig trees with first-ripe fruit: If they are shaken, their figs will fall into the mouth of the eater!

3:13  Your warriors will be like women in your midst; the gates of your land will be wide open to your enemies; fire will consume the bars of your gates.

3:14  Draw yourselves water for a siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Trample the mud and tread the clay! Make mud bricks to strengthen your walls!

3:15  There the fire will consume you; the sword will cut you down; it will devour you like the young locust would. Multiply yourself like the young locust; multiply yourself like the flying locust!

3:16  Increase your merchants more than the stars of heaven! They are like the young locust which sheds its skin and flies away.

3:17  Your courtiers are like locusts, your officials are like a swarm of locusts! They encamp in the walls on a cold day, yet when the sun rises, they fly away; and no one knows where they are.

3:18  Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria! Your officers are slumbering! Your people are scattered like sheep on the mountains and there is no one to regather them!

3:19  Your destruction is like an incurable wound; your demise is like a fatal injury! All who hear what has happened to you will clap their hands for joy, for no one ever escaped your endless cruelty!