Nahum
American Standard Version, 1901 ed.
Chapter 1
1The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum
the Elkoshite. 2Jehovah is a jealous God and avengeth;
Jehovah avengeth and is full of wrath; Jehovah taketh vengeance
on his adversaries, and he reserveth [wrath] for his enemies.
3Jehovah is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by
no means clear [the guilty]: Jehovah hath his way in the
whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his
feet. 4He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth
up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel; and the
flower of Lebanon languisheth. 5The mountains quake at him,
and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at his presence,
yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. 6Who can stand
before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of
his anger? his wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are
broken asunder by him. 7Jehovah is good, a stronghold in
the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that take refuge in him.
8But with an over-running flood he will make a full end of
her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. 9What
do ye devise against Jehovah? he will make a full end;
affliction shall not rise up the second time. 10For
entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are
consumed utterly as dry stubble. 11There is one gone forth
out of thee, that deviseth evil against Jehovah, that
counselleth wickedness. 12Thus saith Jehovah: Though they
be in full strength, and likewise many, even so shall they be
cut down, and he shall pass away. Though I have afflicted thee,
I will afflict thee no more. 13And now will I break his
yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. 14
And Jehovah hath given 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. 15Behold, upon the mountains the feet of
him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! Keep thy
feasts, O Judah, perform thy vows; for the wicked one shall no
more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.
Chapter 2
1He that dasheth in pieces is come up against thee: keep
the fortress, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy
power mightily. 2For Jehovah restoreth the excellency of
Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the emptiers have
emptied them out, and destroyed their vine-branches. 3The
shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in
scarlet: the chariots flash with steel in the day of his
preparation, and the cypress [spears] are brandished. 4The
chariots rage in the streets; they rush to and fro in the broad
ways: the appearance of them is like torches; they run like the
lightnings. 5He remembereth his nobles: they stumble in
their march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the
mantelet is prepared. 6The gates of the rivers are opened,
and the palace is dissolved. 7And it is decreed: she is
uncovered, she is carried away; and her handmaids moan as with
the voice of doves, beating upon their breasts. 8But
Nineveh hath been from of old like a pool of water: yet they
flee away. Stand, stand, [they cry]; but none looketh back.
9Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold; for
there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture.
10She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth,
and the knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and
the faces of them all are waxed pale. 11Where is the den of
the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the
lion [and] the lioness walked, the lion's whelp, and none made
them afraid? 12The lion did tear in pieces enough for his
whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves
with prey, and his dens with ravin. 13Behold, I am against
thee, saith Jehovah 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.
Chapter 3
1Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and
rapine; the prey departeth not. 2The noise of the whip, and
the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses, and
bounding chariots, 3the horseman mounting, and the flashing
sword, and the glittering spear, and a multitude of slain, and a
great heap of corpses, and there is no end of the bodies; they
stumble upon their bodies;- 4because of the multitude of
the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of
witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and
families through her witchcrafts. 5Behold, I am against
thee, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will uncover thy skirts upon
thy face; and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the
kingdoms thy shame. 6And I will cast abominable filth upon
thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock.
7And 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? 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] her wall was of the sea? 9Ethiopia and Egypt were her
strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.
10Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity; her
young children also were dashed in 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. 11Thou also shalt be
drunken; thou shalt be hid; thou also shalt seek a stronghold
because of the enemy. 12All thy fortresses shall be [like]
fig-trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they fall
into the mouth of the eater. 13Behold, thy people in the
midst of thee are women; the gates of thy land are set wide open
unto thine enemies: the fire hath devoured thy bars. 14Draw
thee water for the siege; strengthen thy fortresses; go into the
clay, and tread the mortar; make strong the brickkiln. 15
There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off;
it shall devour thee like the canker-worm: make thyself many as
the canker-worm; make thyself many as the locust. 16Thou
hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the
canker-worm ravageth, and fleeth away. 17Thy princes are as
the locusts, and thy marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers,
which encamp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun
ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they
are. 18Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy nobles
are at rest; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and
there is none to gather them. 19There is no assuaging of
thy hurt: thy wound is grievous: all that hear the report of
thee clap their hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy
wickedness passed continually?
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