Nahum

Nahum

An oracle concerning Nineveh.

The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

YHWH is a jealous and avenging God;

YHWH is avenging and full of wrath.

YHWH takes vengeance on His adversaries

and reserves wrath for His enemies.

YHWH is slow to anger and great in power,

and YHWH will by no means clear the guilty.

His way is in whirlwind and storm,

and the clouds are the dust of His feet.

He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;

He dries up all the rivers.

Bashan and Carmel wither;

the bloom of Lebanon fades.

The mountains quake before Him;

the hills melt.

The earth heaves at His presence,

the world and all who dwell in it.

Who can stand before His indignation?

Who can endure the heat of His anger?

His wrath is poured out like fire,

and the rocks are shattered by Him.

YHWH is good,

a refuge in the day of distress.

He knows those who take refuge in Him.

But with an overwhelming flood

He will make a complete end of the adversary,

and pursue His enemies into darkness.

What do you plot against YHWH?

He will make a complete end;

distress will not rise up a second time.

For they are entangled like thorns,

and drunk like drunkards;

they are consumed like stubble fully dried.

From you came one

who plotted evil against YHWH,

a worthless counselor.

Thus says YHWH:

“Though they are at full strength and many,

they will be cut down and pass away.

Though I have afflicted you,

I will afflict you no more.

Now I will break his yoke from off you

and burst your bonds apart.”

YHWH has given a command about you:

“No more shall your name be sown.

From the house of your gods

I will cut off the carved image and the metal image.

I will make your grave,

for you are vile.”

Behold, on the mountains,

the feet of Him who brings good news,

who proclaims peace!

Celebrate your feasts, O Judah;

fulfill your vows,

for never again shall the wicked pass through you;

he is utterly cut off.

———

The shatterer has come up against you.

Guard the ramparts;

watch the road;

brace yourselves;

marshal all your strength.

For YHWH is restoring the majesty of Jacob

as the majesty of Israel—

for plunderers have plundered them

and ruined their branches.

The shield of His mighty men is red;

His soldiers are clothed in scarlet.

The chariots flash like flame

on the day of His preparation;

the spears are brandished.

The chariots race madly through the streets;

they rush to and fro through the squares.

They gleam like torches;

they dart like lightning.

He remembers His officers;

they stumble as they go,

they hasten to the wall;

the siege tower is set up.

The river gates are opened;

the palace melts away.

Its mistress is stripped; she is carried off,

her maidens lamenting,

moaning like doves

and beating their breasts.

Nineveh is like a pool whose waters run away.

“Halt! Halt!” they cry—

but none turns back.

Plunder the silver!

Plunder the gold!

There is no end of treasure

or of wealth of every desirable thing.

Desolation! Ruin! Waste!

Hearts melt,

knees tremble,

anguish is in every body,

and all faces grow pale.

Where is the lions’ den,

the feeding place of the young lions,

where the lion and lioness went,

where none to disturb them?

The lion tore enough for his cubs

and strangled prey for his lionesses;

he filled his caves with prey

and his dens with torn flesh.

“Behold, I am against you,”

declares YHWH of Hosts,

“and I will burn your chariots in smoke,

and the sword shall devour your young lions.

I will cut off your prey from the earth,

and the voice of your messengers

shall no longer be heard.”

———

Woe to the bloody city,

all full of lies and plunder—

no end to the prey!

The crack of the whip,

the rumble of the wheel,

galloping horse

and bounding chariot!

Horsemen charging,

flashing sword and glittering spear,

hosts of slain,

heaps of corpses,

dead bodies without end—

they stumble over the bodies!

All for the countless whorings of the prostitute,

graceful and deadly,

who betrays nations with her harlotries,

and peoples with her sorceries.

“Behold, I am against you,” declares YHWH of Hosts,

“and will lift up your skirts over your face;

I will show the nations your nakedness,

and the kingdoms your shame.

I will throw filth at you

and treat you with contempt

and make you a spectacle.

And all who look at you

will shrink from you and say,

‘Nineveh is laid waste;

who will grieve for her?’

Where shall I seek comforters for you?”

Are you better than Thebes

that sat by the Nile,

surrounded by waters,

with rampart the sea

and water her wall?

Cush was her strength;

Egypt too, and Put and Libya were her helpers.

Yet she became an exile;

she went into captivity;

her infants were dashed in pieces

at the head of every street;

for her honored men they cast lots,

and all her great men were bound in chains.

You also will be drunken;

you will go into hiding;

you will seek refuge from the enemy.

All your fortresses are like fig trees

with first-ripe figs—

if shaken they fall

into the mouth of the eater.

Behold, your troops are women in your midst.

The gates of your land

are wide open to your enemies;

fire has devoured your bars.

Draw water for the siege;

strengthen your forts;

go into the clay;

tread the mortar;

take hold of the brick mold!

There the fire will devour you;

the sword will cut you off.

It will devour you

like the locust.

Multiply yourselves like the locust;

multiply like the grasshopper!

You increased your merchants

more than the stars of heaven—

the locust spreads its wings and flies away.

Your princes are like grasshoppers,

your scribes like swarming locusts

settling on the fences in a day of cold—

when the sun rises, they fly away;

no one knows where they are.

Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria;

your nobles slumber.

Your people are scattered on the mountains

with none to gather them.

There is no easing your hurt;

your wound is fatal.

All who hear the news about you

clap their hands over you.

For upon whom has not come

your endless cruelty?