Old/New Testament
Chapter 1
Title.1 This is an oracle about Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.[a]
The Fury of God[b]
In the Face of His Ardent Anger, Who Could Resist Him?[c]
Chapter 1
Title. This is an oracle about Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.[d]
The Fury of God[e]
In the Face of His Ardent Anger, Who Could Resist Him?[f]
2 The Lord is a jealous God
who does not hesitate to wreak vengeance
or to show his anger.
The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
and stores up wrath against his enemies.
3 The Lord is slow to anger but great in power,
and he will never allow the guilty
to escape punishment.
He makes his way in whirlwind and storm,
and the clouds are the dust beneath his feet.
4 He rebukes the sea and leaves it dry,
and he dries up all the rivers.
Bashan and Carmel wither,
and the greenery of Lebanon fades.[g]
5 The mountains quake before him,
and the hills dissolve;
the earth collapses before him,
the world and all who live in it.
6 When confronted by his anger,
who can stand firm?
Who can endure his burning wrath?
His fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are shattered before him.
7 The Lord is good,
an unfailing refuge in a time of distress.
He takes care of those who place their trust in him,
8 even if they are in peril from a raging flood.
He will make an end of those who oppose him,
and he will pursue his enemies into darkness.
They Will Be Wasted Like Dry Straw[h]
9 Why do you devise plots against the Lord?
He will make an end of you.
None of his adversaries rise up to confront him
for a second time.
10 Like a thicket of thornbushes, they are entangled;
like dry straw they will be utterly consumed.
11 From your number, one has emerged
who plots evil against the Lord
and counsels wickedness.
12 Thus says the Lord:
No matter how numerous they are,
no matter how great their strength,
they will be cut down and pass away.
Even though I have afflicted you,
I will make you suffer no more.
13 Now I will break off their yoke from your neck
and snap the shackles that bind you.
14 In regard to you, Nineveh,
the Lord has decreed
that no more descendants will be born
to perpetuate your name.
I will remove carved images and sculpted idols
from the temple of your gods.
And I will prepare your grave,
for you are worthless.
Chapter 2
The Message of Liberation
1 Behold on the mountains the feet of the herald
who proclaims good news and announces peace.
Celebrate your festivals, O Judah,
and fulfill your vows.
For never again will the wicked invade you;
they will be completely destroyed.
2 The Lord will restore the majesty of Jacob
as well as that of Israel,[i]
even though the plunderers have ravaged them
and destroyed their vines.
3 A destroying enemy is advancing against you;
guard the ramparts.
Keep watch on the road,
gird your loins,
and prepare to exert
every last ounce of courage.
The Agony of Nineveh[j]
Devastation, Plunder, and Destruction[k]
4 The shields of his warriors are red with blood;
their garments are scarlet in color.
The metal on the chariots flashes
as he summons them for battle;
the horses are frenzied in anticipation.
5 The chariots charge madly through the streets,
rushing back and forth through the squares.
They have the appearance of a blazing fire;
they dash about like lightning bolts.
6 His finest troops are summoned
and rush forward to the attack.
They hasten toward the wall
and set up the mantelet.
7 The river gates are opened
and the palace trembles.
8 The captives are taken into exile
and its slave girls are carried away,
moaning like doves
and beating their breasts.
9 Nineveh is like a lake
whose waters are ebbing away.
“Stop! Stop!” goes up the cry,
but no one turns back.
10 “Plunder the silver!
Plunder the gold!
There is no end to the treasure,
an abundance of wealth
from precious things of every kind.”
11 Devastation, desolation, and ruin
confront faint hearts and trembling knees.
The loins of all are filled with anguish;
every face is drained of color.
Where Is the Lions’ Den?[l]
12 Where now is the lions’ den,
the cave where they fed their whelps,
where the lion and lioness cared for their cubs,
with no one to disturb them?
13 There the lion stored up
sufficient food for his whelps
and strangled prey for his mate.
He filled his dens with prey
and his caves with torn flesh.
14 “I come against you,”
says the Lord of hosts.
“I will set your chariots aflame,
and the sword will devour your young lions.
I will cut off your prey from the earth,
and the threats of your messengers
will no longer be heard.”
Chapter 3
Woe to the Bloodstained City[m]
1 Woe to the bloodstained city,
festering with lies,
full of booty,
never ceasing in its plunder.
2 Endless are the crack of the whip
and the rumbling of wheels,
galloping horses
and jolting chariots,
3 charging cavalry,
flashing swords,
shimmering spears,
endless piles of the slain,
heaps of corpses,
endless bodies to stumble over.
4 Because of the persistent debaucheries of the harlot,
with her alluring facade as a mistress of sorcery,
who enslaved nations by her harlotries
and peoples by her witchcraft.
5 “I am against you,”
says the Lord of hosts.
“I will lift up your skirts over your face
and exhibit your nakedness to the nations,
your shame to the kingdoms.
6 I will pelt you with filth,
and treat you with contempt,
and make a spectacle of you.
7 Then all those who see you
will shrink from you and say,
‘Nineveh is destroyed.’
Who will console her?
Where can anyone be found to comfort you?”
Are You Better than No-amon?[n]
8 [o]Are you better than No-amon,
a city situated among streams
and surrounded by water,
with the seas serving as her rampart
and water as her wall?
9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength,
and that strength was boundless;
Put and the Lybians were her allies.
10 Nevertheless, even she became an exile
and went into captivity.
Even her infants were dashed to pieces
at every street corner.
Lots were cast for her nobles,
and all her leaders were put in chains.
11 You, too, will become drunk
and go into hiding.
You, too, will flee,
seeking a refuge from the enemy.
The Situation of Nineveh Is Desperate[p]
12 All your fortresses are fig trees
that bear early fruit.
As soon as they are shaken,
they fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Look at your troops.
You are a nation of women.
The gates of your country
lie open to your enemies;
fire has consumed the bars of your gates.
14 Draw yourselves water for the siege!
Strengthen your fortifications!
Trample the clay,
tread the mortar,
repair the brickwork!
15 Then the fire will consume you
and the sword will cut you off.
Multiply yourselves like the locusts,
make yourselves as numerous as the grasshoppers.
Like the Locusts, Strip the Land and Fly Away[q]
16 You have increased the number of your merchants
until they now outnumber the stars of the heavens,
but like the locusts, they strip the land
and then fly away.
17 Your guards are like locusts,
and your scribes are like swarms of grasshoppers
that settle in the walls
on a cold day.
However, when the sun rises, they fly away,
and no one knows where they have gone.
Incurable Is Your Sickness[r]
18 Alas, your shepherds are asleep,
O king of Assyria;
your neighbors lie down to rest.
Your people are scattered on the mountains
with no one to gather them.
19 There is no way to relieve your wound;
your injury is mortal.
All who hear this news about your fate
clap their hands over your downfall.
For who has not suffered
as a result of your relentless cruelty?
Chapter 14
The Song of the Martyrs.[a] 1 Next in my vision, I saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were one hundred and forty-four thousand[b] people who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2 I heard a sound from heaven like that of a mighty torrent or a loud peal of thunder. It was like the sound of harpists playing their harps.
3 They were singing a new song[c] before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn this song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 These are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women.[d] They are virgins, and they follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been redeemed as the firstfruits of mankind for God and for the Lamb. 5 No lie was found on their lips. They are irreproachable.
The Nearness of the Judgment.[e] 6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to all those who live on the earth, to every nation, race, language, and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, for the time has come for his judgment. Worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
8 A second angel followed him, saying:
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.
She has made all the nations drink
the wine of the wrath of her immorality.”
9 A third angel followed them, crying out in a loud voice, “Anyone who worships the beast or its image and receives its mark on his forehead or hand 10 will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured undiluted into the cup of his wrath.[f] Such people will be tormented in burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 The smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever. There will be no respite day or night for those who worship the beast or its image or for those who receive the mark of its name.”
12 This demands patient endurance on the part of the saints who keep the commandments of God and remain faithful to Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed[g] are those who die in the Lord from now on.”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will find rest from their labors, for their deeds go with them.”
14 One Like a Son of Man.[h] Now in my vision, I saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one “like a son of man,”[i] with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Another angel then came out of the temple and called out in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the time to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” 16 So the one who was seated on the cloud swept over the earth with his sickle, and the earth was harvested.
17 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he, too, had a sharp sickle. 18 Then from the altar came forth still another angel who was in charge of the fire, and he cried out in a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vines of the earth, for her grapes are ripe.”
19 So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered in its vintage, which he then cast into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 The winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress to the height of a horse’s bridle for a distance of two hundred miles.
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