The Book Of Nahum

Modernized spelling by David L. Brown & James Krueger

© 2001 & 2009 David L. Brown  – All Rights Reserved

1 The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

2 God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth: the Lord revengeth: even the Lord of anger, the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.

3 The Lord is slow to anger, but he is great in power, and will not surely clear 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 drieth it, and he drieth up all the rivers: Bashan is wasted and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon is wasted.

5 The mountains tremble for him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his sight, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.

6 Who can stand before his wrath?   Or who can abide in the fierceness of his wrath?   His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken by him.

7 The Lord is good and as a strong hold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him.

8 But passing over as with a flood, he will utterly destroy the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.

9 What do ye imagine against the Lord?   He will make an utter destruction: affliction shall not rise up the second time.

10 For he shall come as unto thorns folden one in another, and as unto drunkards in their drunkenness: they shall be devoured as stubble fully dried.

11 There cometh one out of thee that imagineth evil against the Lord, even a wicked counselor.

12 Thus saith the Lord, Though they be quiet, and also many, yet thus shall they be cut off when he shall pass by: though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.

13 For now I will break his yoke from 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 and the molten image: I will make it thy grave for thee, for thou art vile.

15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that declareth, and 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.

Nahum Chapter 2

1 The destroyer is come before thy face: keep the munition: look to the way: make thy loins strong: increase thy strength mightily.

2  For the Lord hath turned away the glory of Jacob, as the glory 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 as in the fire and flames in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall tremble.

4 The chariots shall rage in the streets: they shall run to and fro in the highways: they shall seem like lamps: they shall shoot like the lightning.

5 He shall remember his strong men: they shall stumble as they go: they shall make haste to the walls thereof, and the defense shall be prepared.

6 The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall melt.

7  And Huzzab the queen shall be led away captive, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, smiting 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 Spoil ye the silver, spoil the gold: for there is none end of the store, and glory of all the pleasant vessels.

10 She is empty and void and waste, and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and sorrow is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.

11 Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the pasture of the lion's whelps?   Where the lion, and the lioness walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid.

12 The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and worried for his lioness, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with, spoil.

13 Behold, I come unto 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 spoil from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.

Nahum Chapter 3

1 O 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 moving of the wheels, and the beating of the horses, and the leaping of the chariots.

3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword, and the glittering spear, and a multitude is slain, and the dead bodies are many: there is none end of their corpses: they stumble upon their corpses,

4 Because of the multitude of the fornications of the harlot that is beautiful, and is a mistress of witchcraft, and selleth the people through her whoredom, and the nations through her witchcrafts.

5 Behold, I come upon thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and will show the nations thy filthiness, and the kingdoms thy shame.

6 And I will cast 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 destroyed, who will have pity upon her?  Where shall I seek comforters for thee?

8 Art thou better than No, which was full of people?   That lay in the rivers, and had the waters round about it?   Whose ditch was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?

9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and there was none end: Put and Lubim were her helpers.

10 Yet was she carried away, and went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets: and they cast lots for her noble men, and all her mighty men were bound in chains.

11 Also thou shalt be drunken: thou shalt hide thyself, and shalt seek help because of the enemy.

12 All thy strong cities shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs: for if they be shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.

13 Behold, thy people within thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be opened unto thine enemies, and the fire shall devour thy bars.

14 Draw thee waters for the siege: fortify thy strong holds: go into the clay, and temper the mortar: make strong brick.

15 There shall the fire devour thee: the sword shall cut thee off: it shall eat thee up like the locusts, though thou be multiplied like the locusts, and multiplied like the grasshopper.

16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the locust spoileth and flyeth away.

17 Thy princes are as the grasshoppers, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers which remain 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 do sleep, O king of Assyria: thy strong men lie down: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.

19 There is no healing of thy wound: thy plague is grievous: all that hear the brute of thee, shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy malice passed continually?