04 August - Nahum 1-3

Jude Thu Aug 02, 2018 6:53 am

My soul doth magnify my YAH, and my spirit hath rejoiced in EL my Saviour; For HE that is mighty hath done to me great things; and Holy is HIS Name. Now unto HIM who is ever present in my helpless estate; who is able to keep me from falling and to present me faultless before the presence of His Glory with exceeding joy, unto the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the only wise EL our Saviour be honour and glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and for ever Halleluyah!

NAHUM 1

1The message concerning Ninewĕh. The book of the vision of Naḥum the Elqoshite.

2יהוה is a jealous and revenging Ěl, יהוה is a revenger and a possessor of wrath. יהוה takes vengeance on His adversaries, and He watches for His enemies.

3יהוה is patient and great in power, but by no means leaves unpunished. יהוה has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.

4He is rebuking the sea and dries it up. And all the floods He has made dry, Bashan and Karmel are withering, and the flower of Leḇanon is languishing.

5Mountains have shaken before Him, and the hills have melted. And the earth is lifted up at His presence, and the world and all who dwell in it.

6Who does stand before His rage? And who rises up in the heat of His displeasure? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks have been broken by Him.

7יהוה is good, as a stronghold in the day of distress. And He knows those who take refuge in Him.

8But with an overwhelming flood He makes a complete end of the place of Ninewĕh, and darkness does pursue His enemies.

9What do you plot against יהוה? He makes a complete end of it. Distress does not rise up a second time.

10Though they are as entangled thorns, and as drunkards with their drink, they shall be consumed like stubble thoroughly dried.

11From you came forth one who plots evil against יהוה, a counsellor of Beliya‛al.

12Thus said יהוה, “Though they are strong and many, even so, they shall be cut off and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I afflict you no more.

13“So now I break his yoke from you, and tear off your shackles.”

14And יהוה has commanded concerning you, “Your name shall no longer be sown. From the house of your mighty ones I shall cut off the carved image and the moulded image. I shall appoint your grave, for you have been of no account.”

15See, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace! O Yehuḏah, observe your festivals, perform your vows. For Beliya‛al shall no more pass through you. He has been cut off completely.

NAHUM 2

1He who breaks in pieces has come up before your face. Guard the ramparts! Watch the way! Strengthen your loins! Strengthen your power greatly.

2For יהוה shall turn back the splendour of Ya‛aqoḇ like the splendour of Yisra’ĕl, for the emptiers have emptied them out and ruined their vine branches.

3The shields of his mighty men have become red, the men of battle are in scarlet. The chariots are like flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the cypresses shall be shaken.

4The chariots dash about in the streets, they rush one another in the broad ways. They look like flaming torches, they run like lightning.

5He remembers his noble ones, they stumble in their walk, they hurry to her walls, and the defence is prepared.

6The river gates have been opened, and the palace is melted.

7And it is established: she shall be exiled, she shall be led away. And her female servants are moaning as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts.

8And Ninewĕh of old was like a pool of water, now they flee away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back.

9Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! There is no limit to the treasure – a wealth of all precious objects.

10She is empty, even emptiness and waste! And the heart has melted, and the knees have knocked together, and much pain is in all loins, and all their faces have become flushed.

11Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion, the lioness and the lion’s cub walked, with no one to disturb them?

12The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with prey, and his dens with torn prey.

13“See, I am against you,” declares יהוה of hosts, “and I shall burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword devour your young lions. And I shall cut off your prey from the earth, and no longer is the voice of your messengers heard.”

NAHUM 3

1Woe to the city of blood! All of it is a lie, filled with plunder, the prey is not lacking.

2The sound of a whip and the sound of rattling wheels, of galloping horses, of jolting chariots,

3mounted horsemen with bright sword and glittering spear, and many wounded, and a mass of dead bodies, and no end of corpses, they stumble over the corpses –

4because of the many whorings of the well-favoured whore, the mistress of sorceries, who sells nations by her whorings, and clans by her sorceries.

5“See, I am against you,” declares יהוה of hosts, “and shall lift up your skirts over your face, and shall show nations your nakedness, and reigns your shame.

6“And I shall cast abominations upon you, and treat you as foolish, and make a spectacle of you.

7“And it shall be that all who see you flee from you, and say, ‘Ninewĕh is laid waste! Who does mourn for her?’ Where do I seek comforters for you?”

8Are you better than No Amon, who dwelt by the Nile-streams, with waters around her, whose rampart was like the sea, whose wall was like the sea?

9Kush and Mitsrayim were her strength, even unlimited. Put and Luḇim were your helpers.

10Yet she was exiled, she went into captivity. At the head of every street her young children were dashed to pieces. Lots were cast for her esteemed men, and all her great men were bound in chains.

11You too are to become drunk, you are to go into hiding. You too are to seek refuge from the enemy.

12All your strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs, when shaken they shall fall into the mouth of the eater.

13See, your people in your midst are women! The gates of your land shall be opened wide to your enemies. Fire shall consume your gate bars.

14Draw for yourself water for the siege! Strengthen your defences! Go into the clay and tread the mortar, lay hold of the brick mould!

15There a fire shall consume you, a sword cut you off, eat you up like a locust. Make yourself many like the locust, make yourself many like the swarming locust!

16You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the heavens. The locust shall strip off and fly away.

17Your officials are like the locusts, and your marshals are like the great grasshoppers, which settle in the hedges on a cold day – when the sun rises they flee away, and the place where they are is unknown.

18Your shepherds have slumbered, O sovereign of Ashshur, your nobles lie down to rest. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and no one gathers them.

19Your injury has no healing, your wound is grievous. All who hear news of you shall clap their hands over you. For over whom did your evil not pass continually?