NAHUM
Book 34
1:1 The burden of Nineveh. The book of the
vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
1:2 God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth;
the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on
his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.
1:3 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in
power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD 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 burned 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 fury is poured
out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.
1:7 The LORD is good, a strong hold in the
day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
1:8 But with an overrunning flood he will
make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his
enemies.
1:9 What do ye imagine against the LORD? he
will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.
1:10 For while they be folden together as
thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be
devoured as stubble fully dry.
1:11 There is one come out of thee, that
imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor.
1:12 Thus saith the LORD; Though they be
quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he
shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee
no more.
1:13 For now will I break his yoke from off
thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.
1:14 And the LORD hath given a 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! O Judah, keep
thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass
through thee; he is utterly cut off.
2:1 He that dasheth in pieces is come up
before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins
strong, fortify thy power mightily.
2:2 For the LORD hath turned away the
excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers
have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.
2:3 The shield of his mighty men is made
red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with
flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall
be terribly shaken.
2:4 The chariots shall rage in the streets,
they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall
seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.
2:5 He shall recount his worthies: they
shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall
thereof, and the defence shall be prepared.
2:6 The gates of the rivers shall be
opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.
2:7 And Huzzab shall be led away captive,
she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the
voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.
2:8 But Nineveh is of old like a pool of
water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but
none shall look back.
2:9 Take ye the spoil of silver, take the
spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all
the pleasant furniture.
2:10 She is empty, and void, and waste: and
the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in
all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.
2:11 Where is the dwelling of the lions,
and the feedingplace of the young lions, where the lion, even the old
lion, walked, and 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 holes with
prey, and his dens with ravin.
2:13 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD
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 robbery; the prey departeth not;
3:2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of
the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the
jumping chariots.
3:3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright
sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and
a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses;
they stumble upon their corpses:
3:4 Because of the multitude of the
whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts,
that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her
witchcrafts.
3:5 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD
of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I
will shew 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 gazingstock.
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 populous No, that
was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it,
whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from 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
top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable 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 strength because of the enemy.
3:12 All thy strong holds shall be like fig
trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall
into the mouth of the eater.
3:13 Behold, thy people in the midst of
thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto
thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.
3:14 Draw thee waters for the siege,
fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make
strong the brickkiln.
3:15 There shall the fire devour thee; the
sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm:
make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.
3:16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants
above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away.
3:17 Thy crowned are as the locusts, and
thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp 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 shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered
upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.
3:19 There is no healing of thy bruise; thy
wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the
hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed
continually?