Jonathan Nahum

The Prophecy Against Nineveh

1 The burden of the cup of cursing that Nineveh is to be made to drink.⁠a Earlier, Jonah son of Amittai from Gath Hepher prophesied against her, and she turned from her sins. Now that she has sinned again, Nahum from the house of Koshi prophesied against her again, as it is written in this record.

The Lord’s Vengeance

2 The Lord is a God who judges and avenges. The Lord is an avenger, and great power is with him. The Lord is ready to take vengeance on those who hate⁠b his people, and to take it in mighty anger on his enemies. 3 The Lord is slow to anger, but great power is with him. The Lord is ready to take vengeance, but he⁠c forgives those who turn to the law, though he never fails to punish those who do not turn. The Lord leads in storm and wind, and casts clouds of darkness down before him.

4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel are desolate, and the trees of Lebanon droop. 5 The mountains tremble before him, and the hills are broken. The earth is wasted before him, the world and all who live in it.

6 When he⁠d reveals himself in mercy to give the law to his people, the world trembles before him. But when he reveals himself in anger to take vengeance on those who hate his people, who can stand before his vengeance, and who can endure the evil of his anger? His anger dissolves like fire, and the rocks are broken before him.

7 The Lord is good to⁠e Israel, a support in the time of distress, and those who trust in his word are revealed before him. 8 In mighty anger and in fierce fury he will utterly destroy the⁠f peoples who have arisen and laid waste the holy house of the Lord, and he will hand his enemies over to Gehenna.

Nineveh’s End and Jerusalem’s Relief

9 You peoples who have plundered Israel, what are you plotting against the Lord? He is about to destroy you utterly, and distress will not rise against the house of Israel twice. 10 For the⁠g rulers of the people who plundered the house of Israel led them astray, like people staggering with wine, and consumed them as fire consumes very dry stubble.

11 From you, Nineveh, comes a⁠h king who is plotting evil against the people of the Lord, who devises a wicked plan.

12 This is what the Lord says: “Even if the peoples who have gathered to afflict you,⁠i Jerusalem, are perfect in their planning and great in number, and they cross the Tigris and pass over the Euphrates and come to afflict you, though I have made you serve, I will not make you serve again. 13 And now I will shatter the yoke of the peoples from your necks, and tear off your chains.”

14 But the Lord will give a command concerning you,⁠j king of Assyria: “There will no longer be any remembrance of your name. From the house of your idols I will cut off carved image and cast image. There I will make your grave, because this is a very light thing for me.”

Good News for Judah

1 Look, on the mountains of the land of Israel are the feet of the one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your festivals, Judah, fulfill your vows, because the wicked will never pass through you again. They are all cut off.

2 Those who were coming up and spreading over your land were laying siege to you, setting guards on your roads. Strengthen your neck, and make your strength very firm. 3 For the Lord is restoring Jacob’s strength and Israel’s glory, because plunderers have plundered them and destroyed the cities that were their pride.

The Fall of Nineveh

4 The shields of their warriors are dyed red, and the men of war are dressed in scarlet. The torches of their chariots are made ready with fire for the day of their display. The leaders of their army are dressed in splendid clothing. 5 The chariots race madly through the streets, and the sound of their clashing weapons is heard in the city squares. They look like torches, like flashing lightning.

6 The leaders of their army are put in command, and they stumble as they go. They hurry, they lay the wall, and they build the towers. 7 The⁠a bridges of the rivers are broken down, and the king trembles in his palace.

8 The queen, seated in a litter, goes into captivity, and her maids follow her, moaning like the sound of doves and beating their breasts.

9 Though Nineveh has been like a reservoir of water from the days of old, now they are fleeing. “Stand! Stand!” But no one turns back to stand. 10 Plunder the silver, plunder the gold! There is no end to the treasures.

11 Gather all the precious things. The gate is plundered and stripped and opened to the enemy. Hearts melt and knees knock, and there is anguish in every body, and all their faces are covered with blackness, black as a pot.

12 Where are the⁠b dwellings of the kings and the residence of the princes, where the kings walked? There they left their sons, like a lion that stays by its prey in safety, with no one to frighten it. 13 The kings brought booty to their wives and captured goods to their sons, and filled their treasuries with booty and their palace with treasure.

14 “Look, I am about to send my fury on you,” says the Lord of Hosts, “and I will burn up your chariots with fire, and the sword will destroy your villages. I will wipe your commerce from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will be heard no more.”

Woe to the City of Blood

1 Woe to the city that sheds blood! She is full of lies and stolen goods. 2 The slaughter never stops. The sound of striking blows and the rumble of wheels, and horses prancing and chariots bounding. 3 Horsemen rearing, and flame and glitter of swords, and flash of spears, and a great number of slain, and a multitude of dead bodies, and there is no end to the slain. They stumble over their slain. 4 All because of the great uproar of the city, which is like a prostitute, a woman of the streets, full of charm and skilled in enchantments, who betrays peoples with her prostitution and kingdoms with her enchantments.

5 “Look, I am sending my fury against you,” says the Lord of Hosts, “and I will uncover the⁠a shame of your sin before your face, and I will show the peoples your shame and the kingdoms your disgrace. 6 And I will throw filth on you and disgrace you, and make you contemptible in the eyes of everyone who sees you. 7 And everyone who sees you will flee far from you and say, ‘Nineveh is laid waste.’ Who will mourn for you? Where will I find comforters for you?”

No Better than Alexandria

8 Are you any better than⁠b great Alexandria, which sat among the rivers, with water all around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose walls were of the sea? 9 Ethiopia was her support, and Egypt too, without end. The people of Put and the Libyans were among your helpers. 10 Yet even she went into exile as a captive. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street, they cast lots for her honored men, and all her great men were brought low in chains.

11 You too will drink like a drunkard. You too will seek help against the enemy. 12 All your fortresses are like early figs that fall when they are shaken, and⁠c among them are left dried clusters fit for eating. 13 Look, your people within you are as weak as women. The gates of your land will surely be opened to your enemies, and fire will consume your strength.

14 Gather water within you, strengthen your fortresses, increase your power, put laborers to work in the clay, and reinforce your buildings. 15 There the⁠d strong peoples will come against you like fire, and those who kill by the sword will consume you. The armies of the peoples, as numerous as devouring locusts, will be assembled against you. 16 They will cover you like swarming locusts. They will devastate you like the locusts. You have made your traders more numerous than the stars of heaven. Look, they are like swarming locusts, which spread out and fly away. 17 Look, your coins glitter like locusts, and your satraps are like young locusts that settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun breaks out on them, they scatter, and no one knows where they have fled.

18 Your⁠e strong men are broken, king of Assyria. The people of your armies are in exile. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and no one gathers them. 19 No one mourns⁠f for your injury. Your wound is fatal. All who hear the news about you will clap their hands over you, rejoicing, for on whom has the blow of your wickedness not fallen continually?