CHAPTER 11 The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the
Elkoshite.
2 God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth,
and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth
wrath for his enemies.
3 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power,
and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind
and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
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.
5 The mountains quake
at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea,
the world, and all that dwell therein.
6 Who can stand before his indignation?
and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out
like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.
7 The LORD is good, a
strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
8 But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place
thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
9 What do ye imagine against
the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second
time.
10 For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are
drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
11 There
is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor.
12 Thus saith the LORD; Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus
shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted
thee, I will afflict thee no more.
13 For now will I break his yoke from
off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.
14 And the LORD hath given
a 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.
15 Behold upon the mountains the
feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep
thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through
thee; he is utterly cut off.
CHAPTER 2
1 He that dasheth in pieces is come up before
thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify
thy power mightily.
2 For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob,
as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and
marred their vine branches.
3 The shield of his mighty men is made red,
the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches
in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.
4 The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against
another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like
the lightnings.
5 He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in
their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall
be prepared.
6 The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace
shall be dissolved.
7 And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be
brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering
upon their breasts.
8 But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they
shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.
9 Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none
end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.
10 She is
empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together,
and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.
11 Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace of the young
lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and
none made them afraid?
12 The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps,
and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his
dens with ravin.
13 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD 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
1 Woe to the bloody city! it is
all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;
2 The noise of a whip,
and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses,
and of the jumping chariots.
3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright
sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a
great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble
upon their corpses:
4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured
harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms,
and families through her witchcrafts.
5 Behold, I am against thee, saith
the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will
shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
6 And I will
cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as
a gazingstock.
7 And 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 populous
No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it,
whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?
9 Ethiopia and
Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.
10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children
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 in chains.
11
Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength
because of the enemy.
12 All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with
the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth
of the eater.
13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the
gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall
devour thy bars.
14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong
holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.
15
There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall
eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make
thyself many as the locusts.
16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above
the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away.
17 Thy crowned
are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp
in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and
their place is not known where they are.
18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king
of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon
the mountains, and no man gathereth them.
19 There is no healing of thy
bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap
the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?