1:1 The burden of Nineveh: The scroll of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite1.
1:2 Elohim is jealous, and Yehovah is avenging, Yehovah is avenging and is a possessor of wrath. Yehovah takes vengeance against His foes, and He keeps wrath against His enemies.
1:3 Yehovah takes long to anger, and is great of power, and He does not by any means acquit the guilty2. Yehovah is in the whirlwind and has His way in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.
1:4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon withers.
1:5 The mountains quake because of Him, and the hills melt; and the earth is lifted up from before Him, even the world and all who dwell in it.
1:6 Who can stand before His fury? And who can rise against the heat of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken down because of Him.
1:7 Yehovah is good for a stronghold in the day of distress; and He knows those who trust in Him.
1:8 But with a flood passing through, He will make a complete end of its place, and darkness shall pursue His enemies.
1:9 What are you plotting against Yehovah? He will make a complete destruction; distress shall not rise up a second time.
1:10 For as thorns are woven together, and as their drunkards are drunken, they shall be devoured like fully dried straw.
1:11 One who plots evil against Yehovah has come forth out from you, one counseling worthlessness.
1:12 So says Yehovah, Though secure, and so many, yet they will be cut off and will vanish. And though I have afflicted you, I will not afflict you any more.
1:13 And now I will break his yoke from on you and will tear away your bonds.
1:14 And Yehovah has commanded concerning you. Not one of your name shall be sown any more; I will cut off the carved image and the molten image out of the house of your gods; I will appoint your grave, for you are despised.
1:15 Look! The feet of Him bearing good news is on the mountains, making heard, Shalom! O Yehudah, celebrate your feasts; fulfill your vows; for the worthless will not continue to pass through among you; he is completely cut off. (Is 52:7, Ro 10:15)
2:1 The one scattering is coming up against your face. Guard the rampart; watch the way; make the loins strong, firm up your power exceedingly.
2:2 For Yehovah has turned the glory of Ya'akov as the glory of Yisrael. For the plunderers have emptied them and have destroyed their vine branches.
2:3 The shield of his mighty ones has become red, the mighty men are clothed in scarlet, the chariots will flame like iron torches in the day of preparation, and the cypresses are made to quiver.
2:4 The chariots run madly in the streets; they shall rush to and fro in the plazas. Their appearance is like torches; they dart about like the lightning.
2:5 He shall remember its nobles; they shall stumble in their walking; they shall hurry to its wall, and the covering shall be set up.
2:6 The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be melted.
2:7 And she who stood firm is uncovered and caused to go away; and her slave-girls are moaning like the sound of doves, beating on their breast.
2:8 And Nineveh is like a pool of water from her days; yet they are fleeing. They cry, Stand! Stand! But no one turns himself.
2:9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! For there is no end to the treasures, riches from all precious objects.
2:10 She is empty, even waste, even devastated. And the heart is melted, and the knees knocking; and trembling is in all the loins; and all of their faces collect heat.
2:11 Where is the den of the lions and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion, and the lioness, and the lion's cub walked, and none shall terrify them?
2:12 The lion tears in pieces, enough for his cubs, and strangles for his lionesses, and has filled his holes with prey, even his lairs with torn prey.
2:13 Look, I am against you, declares Yehovah of Hosts; and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. And I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall not be heard any more.
3:1 Woe to the bloody city! All of it is a lie, all of plunder; the prey is not withdrawn.
3:2 The sound of a whip, and the sound of rattling of a wheel, and a galloping horse, and of a bounding chariot.
3:3 The horseman lifts up both the gleam of the sword and the lightning of the spear, and many are slain, and there are a mass of dead bodies, and no end of corpses; they stumble on their dead bodies,
3:4 because of the many prostitutions of the well favored prostitute, the mistress of sorceries who sells nations by her prostitutions, and families by her sorceries.
3:5 Look, I am against you, declares Yehovah of Hosts, and I will uncover your skirts over your face, and I will cause the nations to see your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.
3:6 And I will cast filth on you and will disgrace you. And I will set you as a spectacle.
3:7 And it shall be that all those who look on you shall flee from you and shall say, Nineveh is laid waste; who shall weep for her? From where shall I seek comforters for you?
3:8 Are you better than No Amon that dwelt among the Nile branches, waters surrounding her, whose rampart was the sea, the waters her wall?
3:9 Ethiopia and Mitsrayim were her strength, yea, without end; Put and Lubim were among your helpers.
3:10 Yet she went into exile; she went into captivity. Also her young ones were dashed to pieces at the head of all the streets, and they cast lots for her honored ones, and all her great ones were bound in chains.
3:11 You also shall be drunken; you shall be hidden; you also shall seek a fortress from the enemy.
3:12 All your fortresses are fig trees with the first-fruits; if they are shaken, then they shall fall on the mouth of the eater.
3:13 Look, your people are women in your midst; the gates of your land shall surely be opened to your enemies; the fire shall devour your bars.
3:14 Draw water of the siege for you! Strengthen your fortifications! Go into the clay and tread in the mortar! Make the mold strong!
3:15 Fire will completely devour you there. The sword shall cut you off. It will eat you up like the locust larvae. Make yourself as many as the larvae; multiply yourself like the locusts.
3:16 You have increased your merchants above the stars of the heavens; the locust larvae shall strip off and fly away.
3:17 Your princes are like the locusts, and your officials are a swarm of locusts that camp in the hedges in the cold day. The sun rises and they flee, and the place where they are is not known.
3:18 Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; your nobles are lying down. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and no one is gathering.
3:19 There is no healing for your fracture; your wound is severe. All who hear of your report shall clap the hand over you, for on whom has your wickedness not continually passed?