▲1.1 The burden of Nineveh. The
book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 1.2 A
jealous and avenging ùGod is Jehovah: an avenger is Jehovah, and full
of fury: Jehovah taketh vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth
[wrath] for his enemies. 1.3 Jehovah
is slow to anger, and great in power, and doth not at all clear [the
guilty]: Jehovah, -- his way is 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 before him, and the hills melt, and the earth is
upheaved at his presence, and the world, and all that dwell therein. 1.6 Who
shall stand before his indignation? and who shall abide in the
fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the
rocks are broken asunder by him. 1.7 Jehovah
is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that
trust in him. 1.8 But
with an overrunning flood he will make a full end of the place thereof,
and darkness shall pursue his enemies. 1.9 What do
ye imagine against Jehovah? He will make a full end: trouble shall not
rise up the second time. 1.10 Though
they be tangled together [as] thorns, and be as drenched from their
drink, they shall be devoured as dry stubble, completely. 1.11 Out of
thee is gone forth one that imagineth evil against Jehovah, a wicked
counsellor. 1.12 Thus
saith Jehovah: Though they be complete in number, and many as they be,
even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pass away; and though I
have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. 1.13 And
now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds
asunder. 1.14 And
Jehovah hath given commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy
name be sown: out of the house of thy god will I cut off the graven
image, and the molten image: I will prepare thy grave; for thou art
vile. 1.15 Behold
upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth glad tidings, that
publisheth peace! Celebrate thy feasts, Judah, perform thy vows: for
the wicked one shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off. ▲2.1 He that dasheth in pieces
is come up against thy face: keep the fortress, watch the way, make
[thy] loins strong, fortify [thy] power mightily. 2.2 For
Jehovah hath brought again the glory of Jacob, as the glory of Israel;
for the wasters have wasted them, and marred their vine-branches. 2.3 The
shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet:
the chariots [glitter] with the sheen of steel, in the day of his
preparation, and the spears are brandished. 2.4 The
chariots rush madly in the streets, they justle one against another in
the broad ways: the appearance of them is like torches, they run like
lightnings. 2.5 He
bethinketh him of his nobles: they stumble in their march; they make
haste to the wall thereof, and the shelter is prepared. 2.6 The
gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace melteth away. 2.7 And it
is decreed: she shall be uncovered, she shall be led away, and her
maids shall moan as with the voice of doves, drumming upon their
breasts. 2.8 Nineveh
hath been like a pool of water, since the day she existed, yet they
flee away. ... Stand! Stand! But none looketh back. 2.9 Plunder
the silver, plunder the gold; for there is no end of the splendid store
of all precious vessels. 2.10 She is
empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite
together, and writhing pain is in all loins, and all their faces grow
pale. 2.11 Where
is [now] the den of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young
lions, where the lion, the lioness, [and] the lion's whelp walked, and
none made them afraid? 2.12 The
lion tore 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 Jehovah of hosts: and I will burn her
chariots into 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] violence; the prey departeth not. 3.2 The
crack of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of
the prancing horses, and of the bounding chariots! 3.3 The
horseman springing up, and the glitter of the sword, and the flash of
the spear, and a multitude of slain, and a mass of carcases, and no end
of corpses: they stumble over their corpses. 3.4 --
Because of the multitude of the fornications of the well-favoured
harlot, mistress of sorceries, that selleth nations through her
fornications, and families through her sorceries, 3.5 behold,
I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts; and I will uncover 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 gazing stock. 3.7 And it
shall come to pass, [that] all they that see thee shall flee from thee,
and shall say, Nineveh is laid waste! Who will bemoan her? whence shall
I seek comforters for thee? 3.8 Art
thou better than No-Amon, that was situate among the rivers, [that had]
the waters round about her, whose rampart was the sea, [and] of the sea
was her wall? 3.9
Ethiopia was her strength, and Egypt, and it was infinite; Phut and the
Libyans were her helpers. 3.10 She
too was carried away, she went into captivity: her infants 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 with chains. 3.11 Thou
also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid; thou also shalt seek a refuge
from the enemy. 3.12 All
thy strongholds are [like] fig-trees with the first-ripe figs: if they
be shaken, they even fall into the mouth of the eater. 3.13
Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are [as] women: the gates of
thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies; the fire devoureth thy
bars. 3.14 Draw
thee water for the siege, strengthen thy fortresses; go into the clay,
and tread the mortar, make strong the brick-kiln. 3.15 There
shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall
devour thee like the cankerworm. Make thyself many as the cankerworm,
make thyself many as the locust. 3.16 Thou
hast multiplied thy merchants more than the stars of the heavens; the
cankerworm spreadeth himself out and flieth away. 3.17 Thy
chosen men are as the locusts, and thy captains as swarms of
grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day: 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 lie still; thy people
are scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. 3.19 There
is no healing of thy breach; thy wound is grievous; all that hear the
report of thee clap the hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy
wickedness passed continually?