Book Order Plan

¹The pronouncement of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:

²A jealous and avenging God is the LORD; The LORD is avenging and wrathful. The LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies.

³The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, And the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In the gale and the storm is His way, And clouds are the dust beneath His feet.

⁴He rebukes the sea and dries it up; He dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, The blossoms of Lebanon wither.

⁵Mountains quake because of Him, And the hills come apart; Indeed the earth is upheaved by His presence, The world and all the inhabitants in it.

⁶Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the burning of His anger? His wrath gushes forth like fire, And the rocks are broken up by Him.

⁷The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble, And He knows those who take refuge in Him.

⁸But with an overflowing flood He will make a complete end of its site, And will pursue His enemies into darkness.

⁹Whatever you devise against the LORD, He will make a complete end of it. Distress will not rise up twice.

¹⁰Like tangled thorns, And like those who are drunken with their drink, They are consumed Like stubble completely dried up.

¹¹From you has gone out One who plotted evil against the LORD, A wicked counselor.

¹²This is what the LORD says: “Though they are at full strength and so they are many, So also they will be cut off and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no longer.

¹³So now, I will break his yoke from upon you, And I will tear your shackles to pieces.”

¹⁴The LORD has issued a command concerning you: “Your name will no longer be perpetuated. I will eliminate the carved image and the cast metal image From the house of your gods. I will prepare your grave, For you are contemptible.”

¹⁵Behold, on the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace! Celebrate your feasts, Judah, Pay your vows. For never again will the wicked one pass through you; He is eliminated completely.

¹The one who scatters has come up against you. Keep watch over the fortress, watch the road; Bind up your waist, summon all your strength.

²For the LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob Like the splendor of Israel, Even though destroyers have laid waste to them And ruined their vines.

³The shields of his warriors are dyed red, The warriors are dressed in scarlet, The chariots are fitted with flashing steel When he is prepared to march, And the juniper spears are brandished.

⁴The chariots drive wildly in the streets, They rush around in the public squares; Their appearance is like torches, They drive back and forth like lightning flashes.

⁵He remembers his officers; They stumble in their advance, They hurry to her wall, And the mantelet is set up.

⁶The gates of the rivers are opened And the palace sways back and forth.

⁷It is set: She is stripped, she is led away, And her slave women are sobbing like the sound of doves, Beating their breasts.

⁸Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days, Yet they are fleeing; “Stop, stop,” But no one turns back.

⁹Plunder the silver, Plunder the gold! For there is no end to the treasure— Wealth from every kind of desirable object.

¹⁰She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste! Hearts are melting and knees wobbling! Also trembling is in the entire body, And all their faces have become pale!

¹¹Where is the den of the lions And the feeding place of the young lions, Where the lion, lioness, and lion’s cub went With nothing to disturb them?

¹²The lion tore enough for his cubs, Killed enough prey for his lionesses, And filled his lairs with prey And his dens with torn flesh.

¹³“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of armies. “I will burn up her chariots in smoke, and a sword will devour your young lions; I will eliminate your prey from the land, and no longer will the voice of your messengers be heard.”

¹Woe to the bloody city, completely full of lies and pillage; Her prey does not leave.

²The sound of the whip, The sound of the roar of the wheel, Galloping horses And bounding chariots!

³Horsemen charging, Swords flashing, spears gleaming, Many killed, a mass of corpses, And there is no end to the dead bodies— They stumble over the dead bodies!

⁴All because of the many sexual acts of the prostitute, The charming one, the mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations by her sexual acts, And families by her sorceries.

⁵“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of armies; “And I will lift up your skirts over your face, And show the nations your nakedness, And the kingdoms your shame.

⁶I will throw filth on you And declare you worthless, And set you up as a spectacle.

⁷And it will come about that all who see you Will shrink from you and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated! Who will have sympathy for her?’ Where shall I seek comforters for you?”

⁸Are you better than No-amon, Which was situated by the canals of the Nile, With water surrounding her, Whose rampart was the sea, Whose wall consisted of the sea?

⁹Ethiopia was her might, Egypt too, without limits. Put and Lubim were among her helpers.

¹⁰Yet she became an exile, She went into captivity; Also her small children were smashed to pieces At the head of every street; They cast lots for her honorable men, And all her great men were bound with shackles.

¹¹You too will become drunk, You will be hidden. You too will search for a refuge from the enemy.

¹²All your fortifications are fig trees with ripe fruit— When shaken, they fall into the eater’s mouth.

¹³Behold, your people are women in your midst! The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies; Fire consumes your gate bars.

¹⁴Draw for yourself water for a siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Go into the clay and tread the mortar! Take hold of the brick mold!

¹⁵There fire will consume you, The sword will cut you down; It will consume you as the creeping locust consumes a crop. Multiply yourself like the creeping locust, Multiply yourself like the migratory locust.

¹⁶You have made your traders more numerous than the stars of heaven— The creeping locust sheds its skin and flies away.

¹⁷Your courtiers are like the migratory locust. Your officials are like a swarm of locusts Settling in the stone shelters on a cold day. The sun rises and they flee, And the place where they are is not known.

¹⁸Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria; Your officers are lying down. Your people are scattered on the mountains And there is no one to gather them.

¹⁹There is no relief for your collapse, Your wound is incurable. All who hear about you Will clap their hands over you, For upon whom has your evil not come continually?