1:1 This is the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:
1:2 The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and full of wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on His foes and reserves wrath for His enemies.
1:3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. His path is in the whirlwind and storm, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.
1:4 He rebukes the sea and dries it up; He makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts.
1:5 The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence; the world and all its dwellers.
1:6 Who can withstand His indignation? Who can endure His burning anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; even rocks are shattered before Him.
1:7 The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of distress; He cares for those who trust in Him.
1:8 But with an overwhelming flood He will make an end of Nineveh and pursue His enemies into darkness.
1:9 Whatever you plot against the LORD, He will bring to an end. Affliction will not rise up a second time.
1:10 For they will be entangled as with thorns and consumed like the drink of a drunkard; like stubble that is fully dry.
1:11 From you, O Nineveh, comes forth a plotter of evil against the LORD, a counselor of wickedness.
1:12 This is what the LORD says: “Though they are allied and numerous, yet they will be cut down and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, O Judah, I will afflict you no longer.
1:13 For I will now break their yoke from your neck and tear away your shackles.”
1:14 The LORD has issued a command concerning you, O Nineveh: “There will be no descendants to carry on your name. I will cut off the carved image and cast idol from the house of your gods; I will prepare your grave, for you are contemptible.”
1:15 Look to the mountains; the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows. For the wicked will never again march through you; they will be utterly cut off.
2:1 One who scatters advances against you, O Nineveh. Guard the fortress! Watch the road! Brace yourselves! Summon all your strength!
2:2 For the LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and ruined the branches of their vine.
2:3 The shields of his mighty men are red; the valiant warriors are dressed in scarlet. The fittings of the chariots flash like fire on the day they are prepared, and the spears of cypress have been brandished.
2:4 The chariots dash through the streets; they rush around the plazas, appearing like torches, darting about like lightning.
2:5 He summons his nobles; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place.
2:6 The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.
2:7 It is decreed that the city be exiled and carried away; her maidservants moan like doves, and beat upon their breasts.
2:8 Nineveh has been like a pool of water throughout her days, but now it is draining away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back.
2:9 “Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!” There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.
2:10 She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!
2:11 Where is the lions’ lair or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled with their cubs, with nothing to frighten them away?
2:12 The lion mauled enough for its cubs and strangled prey for the lioness. It filled its dens with the kill, and its lairs with mauled prey.
2:13 “Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will reduce your chariots to cinders, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.”
3:1 Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.
3:2 The crack of the whip, the rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!
3:3 Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end; they stumble over their dead;
3:4 because of the many harlotries of the harlot, the seductive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft.
3:5 “Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.
3:6 I will pelt you with filth and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you.
3:7 Then all who see you will recoil from you and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated; who will grieve for her?’ Where can I find comforters for you?”
3:8 Are you better than Thebes, stationed by the Nile with water around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the water?
3:9 Kush and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were her allies.
3:10 Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains.
3:11 You too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy.
3:12 All your fortresses are fig trees with the first ripe figs; when shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater!
3:13 Look at your troops; they are like your women! The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire consumes their bars.
3:14 Draw your water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Work the clay and tread the mortar; repair the brick kiln!
3:15 There the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you down and consume you like a young locust. Make yourself many like the young locust; make yourself many like the swarming locust!
3:16 You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips the land and flies away.
3:17 Your guards are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts that settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows where.
3:18 O king of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your officers sleep. Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them.
3:19 There is no healing for your injury; your wound is severe. All who hear the news of you applaud your downfall, for who has not experienced your constant cruelty?