THE BOOK OF NAHUM 1 Goodness and Severity of Jehovah The burden of Nineveh. The stubble. 11 There is one gone forth book of the vision of Nahum the out of thee, that deviseth evil against Elkoshite. Jehovah, that counselleth wickedness. 12 Thus saith Jehovah : Though they be in full strength, and likewise many, even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pass away. 5 Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. 13 And now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. 14 And Jehovah hath given 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. 2 Jehovah is a jealous God and avengeth; Jehovah avengeth and is full of wrath; Jehovah taketh vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. 3 Jehovah is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means clear the guilty: Jehovah 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 upheaved 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 wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by him. 7 Je-2 He that dasheth in pieces is hovah is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that take refuge in him, 8 But with an over-running flood he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. 9 What do ye devise against Jehovah? he will make a full end; affliction shall not rise up the second time. 10 For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed 2 utterly as dry 1 Or, oracle concerning 2 Or, as stubble fully dry *15 Behold, upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! Keep thy feasts, O Judah, perform thy vows; for the wicked one shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off. come up against thee: keep the fortress, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily. 2 For Jehovah restoreth the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out, and destroyed their vine-branches. 3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: *Ch. 2. 1 in Heb. &c. 3 Or, a wicked counsellor 4 Or, worthlessness Heb. Belial. 5 Or, So will I afflict thee, that I shal' 6 Or, the man of worthlessness ! 1 The Overthrow of Nineveh decreed. Its Utter Ruin portrayed the chariots flash with steel in the man mounting, and the flashing day of his preparation, and the sword, and the glittering spear, and 2 cypress spears are brandished. a multitude of slain, and a great 4 The chariots rage in the streets; heap of corpses, and there is no end they rush to and fro in the broad of the bodies; they stumble upon ways: the appearance of them is their bodies;-4 because of the mullike torches; they run like the light- titude of the whoredoms of the wellnings. 5 He remembereth his no- favored harlot, the mistress of bles: they stumble in their march; witchcrafts, that selleth nations they make haste to the wall thereof, through her whoredoms, and famiand the mantelet is prepared. 6 The lies through her witchcrafts. 5 Begates of the rivers are opened, and hold, I am against thee, saith the palace is dissolved. 7 And it Jehovah of hosts, and I will uncover is decreed: she is uncovered, she is thy skirts 10 upon thy face; and I carried away; and her handmaids will show the nations thy nakedness, 4 moan as with the voice of doves, and the kingdoms thy shame. 6 beating upon their 5 breasts. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock. 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 8 But Nineveh hath been 6 from of old like a pool of water: yet they flee away. Stand, stand, they cry; but none looketh back. 9 Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold; for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture. 10 She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all are waxed pale. 11 Where is the den of the lions, and the feedingplace of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, 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 caves with prey, and his dens with ravin. 13 Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah 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. 3 1 Heb. are with fire of steel. 3 Or, Huzzab is uncovered &c. 4 Or, lead her 5 Heb. hearts. 6 Or, from the days that she hath been the cruseth them to turn 8 Or, wealth 8 Art thou better than No-amon, that was situate among the 11 rivers, that had the waters round about her; whose rampart was 12 the sea, and her wall was of 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 head of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. 11 Thou also shalt be drunken; thou shalt be hid; thou also shalt seek 13 a stronghold because of the enemy. 12 All thy fortresses shall be like fig-trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. Behold, 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. 14 Draw thee water for the siege; strengthen thy fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar; 13 The Utter Ruin of Nineveh portrayed 1 make strong the brickkiln. 15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee like the canker-worm: make thyself many as the cankerworm; make thyself many as the locust. 16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm 2ravageth, and fleeth away. 17 Thy princes are as the locusts, and thy marshals as the swarms of grass 1 Or, lay hold of the brick-mould hoppers, which encamp 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, Ŏ king of Assyria; thy nobles are at rest; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and there is none to gather them. 19 There is no suaging of thy hurt; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the report of thee clap their hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? 4 Or, walls as THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK The Chaldeans raised up to punish Judah's Sins. Habakkuk's Remonstrance 1 The 'burden which Habakkuk sand. 10 9 Yea, he scoffeth at kings, the prophet did see. 20 Jehovah, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save. 3 Why dost thou show me iniquity, and 2look upon perverseness? for destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention riseth up. 4 Therefore the law is slacked, and justice 3 doth never go forth; for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore justice goeth forth perverted. 5 Behold ye among the nations, and look, and wonder marvellously; for I am working a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you. 6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling-places that are not theirs. 75 They are terrible and dreadful; their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. 8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen 6 press proudly on: yea, their horsemen come from far; they fly as an eagle that hasteth to devour. 9 They come all of them for violence; 7 the set of their faces is forwards; and they gather captives as the 2 Or, cause me to look 1 Or, oracle and princes are a derision unto him; he derideth every stronghold; for he heapeth up dust, and taketh it. 11 10 Then shall he sweep by as a wind, and shall 11 pass over, and be guilty, even he whose might is his god. 12 Art not thou from everlasting, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One? we shall not die. O Jehovah, thou hast ordained him for judgment; and thou, O Rock, hast established him for correction. 13 Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness, wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy peace when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he; 14 and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? 15 He taketh up all of them with the angle, he catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them in his drag: therefore he rejoiceth and is glad. 16 Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag; because by them his portion is fat, and his food 12 plenteous. 17 Shall he therefore empty his net, and spare not to slay the nations continually? 2 and set me upon the 13 tower, and I will stand upon my watch, will look forth to see what he will speak 14 with me, and what I shall 9 Or, And they scoff &c. 10 Or, Then shall the wind sweep by, and he shall pass away 11 Or, transgress 12 Heb. fut. 13 Or, fortress 14 Or, by sea. Woes pronounced on the Chaldeans. God's Deliverance of his Ancient People answer concerning my complaint. | 14 For the earth shall be filled with 2 And Jehovah answered me, and the knowledge of the glory of Jesaid, Write the vision, and make it hovah, as the waters cover the plain upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it. 3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay. 4 Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not 2upright in him; but the righteous shall live by his faith. 54 Yea, moreover, wine is treacherous, a haughty man, 5 that keepeth not at home; who enlargeth his desire as Sheol, and he is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all peoples. 6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting 6 proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and that ladeth himself with pledges! 7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall 8 vex thee, and thou shalt be for booty unto them? 8 Because thou hast plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder thee, because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein. 15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, to thee that addest thy 10 venom, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! 16 Thou art filled with shame, and not glory: drink thou also, and 11 be as one uncircumcised; the cup of Jehovah's right hand shall come round unto thee, and foul shame shall be upon thy glory. 17 For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of the beasts, which made them afraid; because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein. 18 What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he that fashioneth its form trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? 19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise! Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. 20 But Jehovah is in his holy temple: 12 let all the earth keep silence before him. 9 Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be de3 livered from the hand of evil! 10 Thou hast devised shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul. 11 For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. 12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity! 13 Behold, is it not of Jehovah of hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity? A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shigionoth. 2 O Jehovah, I have heard 13 the report of thee, and 14 am afraid: O Jehovah, revive thy work in the midst of the years; In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy. 3 God 15 came from Teman, And the Holy One from mount |