Nahum chapter 1
The avenging wrath of God
1 The prophecy concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.
2 The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; he takes vengeance on his adversaries and reserves wrath for his enemies.
3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and he will by no means clear the guilty. The Lord marches in the whirlwind and the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
4 He rebukes the sea and dries it up, and makes all the rivers narrow; Bashan and Carmel are laid waste, and the flower of Lebanon is withered.
5 The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt; the earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who dwell in it.
6 Who can stand before his wrath? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are shattered before him.
7 The Lord is good, a refuge in the day of trouble; He knows those who trust in him.
8 But with a mighty flood he will make an end of his adversaries, and darkness will pursue his enemies.
9 What do you plot against the Lord? He will make a complete end of it; he will not take vengeance twice on his enemies.
10 Though they are like tangled thorns, and are drenched in their drunkenness, they will be consumed like dry stubble.
11 From you came one who plotted evil against the Lord, a wicked counselor.
12 Thus says the Lord: Though they have rest, and though they are many, they will still be cut down, and he will pass away. I have afflicted you enough; I will afflict you no more.
13 For now I will break his yoke from off you, and I will burst your bonds.
14 But the Lord will command concerning you, that your name not be remembered; from the house of your god I will destroy the carved image and the cast image; there I will make your grave, for you are vile.
Announcement of the fall of Nineveh
15 Look, on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your festivals, Judah, and fulfill your vows; for the wicked will never again invade you; they have been utterly destroyed.
Nahum Chapter 2
1 A destroyer has come up against you; guard the stronghold, watch the way, gird up your loins, strengthen your arm greatly.
2 For the Lord will restore the glory of Jacob like the glory of Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and ruined their vines.
3 The shields of his mighty men will be reddened, his warriors clothed in scarlet; the chariots will be like blazing torches; on the day he prepares, the cypress trees will tremble.
4 The chariots will rush into the streets, they will roll through the avenues with a roar; their appearance will be like blazing torches, they will flash like lightning.
5 He will remember his mighty men; they will stumble in their march; they will hasten to his wall, and the defense will be ready.
6 The gates of the rivers will be opened, and the palace will be destroyed.
7 The queen will be taken captive; they will command her to come up, and her maids will lead her, moaning like doves, beating their breasts.
8 Nineveh was of old like a pool of water; yet they flee. They cry, “Stop! Stop!” but no one looks.
9 Plunder silver, plunder gold; there is no end to the riches and the splendor of all kinds of desirable goods.
10 She is empty, exhausted, and desolate, and her heart faints; knees tremble, her stomach aches, her faces are changed.
11 Where is the den of the lions, the lair of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness and the young lions used to gather, and no one could make them afraid?
12 The lion tore away in abundance for his cubs and strangled prey for his lionesses; he filled his dens with plunder and his lairs with loot.
Total destruction of Nineveh
13 “Behold, I am against you,” says the Lord of hosts. “I will set your chariots ablaze and turn them into smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; I will cut off your violence from the land, and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.”
Nahum Chapter 3
1 Woe to you, bloody city, full of lies and plunder, never ceasing from pillage!
2 The crack of the whip, the rumble of wheels, the tramping horse, the bounding chariot;
3 the rearing horseman, the flashing sword, the flashing spear; the multitude of slain, the multitude of corpses, endless corpses, and they stumble over their corpses,
4 because of the multitude of the fornications of the alluring prostitute, the mistress of sorcery, who seduces the nations with her fornications, and the peoples with her sorcery.
5 Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will lift your skirts over your face, and I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.
6 I will heap filth upon you, and I will dishonor you, and make you like dung.
7 All who see you will turn away from you and say, “Nineveh is laid waste; who will grieve for her? Where can I find comforters for you?”
8 Are you better than Thebes, which was situated by the Nile, surrounded by waters, its rampart the sea, and waters its wall?
9 Ethiopia was its stronghold, and Egypt also, and that without limit; Put and Libya were its helpers.
10 Yet she was taken into captivity; her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street, and lots were cast for her men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
11 You also will be drunk and shut up; you also will seek refuge because of the enemy.
12 All your strongholds will be like fig trees with ripe figs, which, if shaken, fall into the mouth of the one who is to eat them.
13 Behold, your people will be like women in your midst; The gates of your land will be thrown wide open to your enemies; fire will devour your bars.
14 Take water for the siege, strengthen your strongholds; go into the mud, tread the mire, reinforce the furnace.
15 There fire will consume you, the sword will cut you down, it will devour you like locusts; multiply like grasshoppers, multiply like locusts.
16 You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of heaven; the locusts have gathered and flown away.
17 Your princes are like locusts, and your great men like swarms of locusts that sit on the walls on a cold day; when the sun rises they are gone, and no one knows where they are.
18 Your shepherds sleep, O king of Assyria, your warriors lie at rest; your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to gather them.
19 There is no healing for your wound; your injury is incurable. All who hear of your fame clap their hands at you, for who has not continually suffered your wickedness?