Bible (Jewish Publication Society 1917)/Nahum
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נחום
NAHUM
1The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
- 2The Lord is a jealous and avenging God,
- The Lord avengeth and is full of wrath;
- The Lord taketh vengeance on His adversaries,
- And He reserveth wrath for His enemies.
- 3The Lord is long-suffering, and great in power,
- And will by no means clear the guilty;
- The Lord, in the whirlwind and in the storm is His way,
- 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 fury is poured out like fire,
- And the rocks are broken asunder before Him.
- 7The Lord is good,
- A stronghold in the day of trouble;
- And He knoweth them that take refuge in Him.
- 8But with an overrunning flood
- He will make a full end of the place thereof,
- And darkness shall pursue His enemies.
- 9What do ye devise against the Lord?
- He will make a full end;
- Trouble shall not rise up the second time.
- 10For though they be like tangled thorns,
- And be drunken according to their drink,
- They shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
- 11Out of thee came he forth,
- That deviseth evil against the Lord,
- That counselleth wickedness.
- 12Thus saith the Lord:
- Though they be in full strength, and likewise many,
- Even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pass away;
- And 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.
- 14And the Lord hath given commandment concerning thee,
- That no more of thy name be sown;
- Out of the house of thy god will I cut off
- The graven image and the molten image;
- I will make thy grave; for thou art become worthless.
- 2Behold upon the mountains the feet of him
- That bringeth good tidings, that announceth peace!
- Keep thy feasts, O Judah,
- Perform thy vows;
- For the wicked one shall no more pass through thee;
- He is utterly cut off.
- 2A maul is come up before thy face;
- Guard the defences,
- Watch the way, make thy loins strong,
- Fortify thy power mightily!—
- 3For the Lord restoreth the pride of Jacob,
- As the pride of Israel;
- For the emptiers have emptied them out,
- And marred their vine-branches.—
- 4The shield of his mighty men is made red,
- The valiant men are in scarlet;
- The chariots are fire of steel in the day of his preparation,
- And the cypress spears are made to quiver.
- 5The chariots rush madly in the streets,
- They jostle one against another in the broad places;
- The appearance of them is like torches,
- They run to and fro like the lightnings.
- 6He bethinketh himself of his worthies;
- They stumble in their march;
- They make haste to the wall thereof,
- And the mantelet is prepared.
- 7The gates of the rivers are opened,
- And the palace is dissolved.
- 8And the queen is uncovered, she is carried away,
- And her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves,
- Tabering upon their breasts.
- 9But Nineveh hath been from of old like a pool of water;
- Yet they flee away;
- 'Stand, stand';
- But none looketh back.
- 10Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold;
- For there is no end of the store,
- Rich with all precious vessels.
- 11She is empty, and void, and waste;
- And the heart melteth, and the knees smite together,
- And convulsion is in all loins,
- And the faces of them all have gathered blackness.
- 12Where is the den of the lions,
- Which was the feeding-place of the young lions,
- Where the lion and the lioness walked,
- And the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?
- 13The 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.
- 14Behold, 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.
- 3Woe to the bloody city!
- It is all full of lies and rapine,
- The prey departeth not.
- 2Hark! the whip, and hark! the rattling of wheels;
- And prancing horses, and bounding chariots;
- 3The horseman charging,
- And the flashing sword, and the glittering spear;
- And a multitude of slain, and a heap of carcasses;
- And there is no end of the corpses,
- And they stumble upon their corpses;
- 4Because of the multitude of the harlotries of the well-favoured harlot,
- The mistress of witchcrafts,
- That selleth nations through her harlotries,
- And families through her witchcrafts.
- 5Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord 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 detestable things upon thee, and make thee vile,
- And will make thee as dung.
- 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?'
- 8Art thou better than No-amon,
- That was situate among the rivers,
- That had the waters round about her;
- Whose rampart was the sea, and of the sea her wall?
- 9Ethiopia and Egypt were thy 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 honourable men,
- And all her great men were bound in chains.
- 11Thou also shalt be drunken,
- Thou shalt swoon;
- Thou also shalt seek a refuge
- 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,
- Lay hold of the brickmould.
- 15There 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 spreadeth itself, and flieth away.
- 17Thy crowned are as the locusts,
- And thy marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers,
- Which camp in the walls 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 worthies 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 the hands over thee;
- For upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?