Nahum 3

English Standard Version

Woe to Nineveh

3 Woe to ^(A)the bloody city,
    all full of lies and plunder—
    ^(B)no end to the prey!
²The crack of the whip, and ^(C)rumble of the wheel,
    ^(D)galloping horse and ^(E)bounding chariot!
³Horsemen charging,
    flashing sword and ^(F)glittering spear,
^(G)hosts of slain,
    heaps of corpses,
dead bodies without end—
    they stumble over the bodies!
⁴And all for the countless whorings of the ^(H)prostitute,
    ^(I)graceful and of deadly charms,
who betrays nations with her whorings,
    and peoples with her charms.

⁵^(J)Behold, I am against you,
    declares the Lord of hosts,
    and ^(K)will lift up your skirts over your face;
and I will make nations look at ^(L)your nakedness
    and kingdoms at your shame.
⁶I will throw filth at you
    and ^(M)treat you with contempt
    and make you ^(N)a spectacle.
⁷And all who look at you ^(O)will shrink from you and say,
“Wasted is ^(P)Nineveh; ^(Q)who will grieve for her?”
    ^(R)Where shall I seek comforters for you?

⁸^(S)Are you better than ^(T)Thebes^[a]
    that sat ^(U)by the Nile,
with water around her,
    her rampart a sea,
    and water her wall?
⁹^(V)Cush was her strength;
    Egypt too, and that without limit;
    ^(W)Put and the ^(X)Libyans were her^[b] helpers.

¹⁰^(Y)Yet she became an exile;
    she went into captivity;
^(Z)her infants were dashed in pieces
    at the head of every street;
for her honored men ^(AA)lots were cast,
    ^(AB)and all her great men were bound in chains.
¹¹^(AC)You also will be drunken;
    you will go into hiding;
^(AD)you will seek a refuge from the enemy.
¹²All your fortresses are ^(AE)like fig trees
    with first-ripe figs—
if shaken they fall
    into the mouth of the eater.
¹³Behold, your troops
    ^(AF)are women in your midst.
The gates of your land
    are wide open to your enemies;
    fire has devoured your bars.

¹⁴^(AG)Draw water for the siege;
    ^(AH)strengthen your forts;
go into the clay;
    tread the mortar;
    take hold of the brick mold!
¹⁵There will the fire devour you;
    the sword will cut you off.
    It will ^(AI)devour you ^(AJ)like the locust.
Multiply yourselves ^(AK)like the locust;
    multiply ^(AL)like the grasshopper!
¹⁶You increased ^(AM)your merchants
    more than the stars of the heavens.
    ^(AN)The locust spreads its wings and flies away.

¹⁷Your ^(AO)princes are ^(AP)like grasshoppers,
    ^(AQ)your scribes^[c] like clouds of locusts
settling on the fences
    in a day of cold—
when the sun rises, they fly away;
    no one knows where they are.

¹⁸Your shepherds ^(AR)are asleep,
    O king of Assyria;
    ^(AS)your nobles slumber.
Your people ^(AT)are scattered on the mountains
    with none to gather them.
¹⁹There is no easing your hurt;
    ^(AU)your wound is grievous.
All who hear the news about you
    ^(AV)clap their hands over you.
For ^(AW)upon whom has not come
    your unceasing evil?

Footnotes

Nahum 3:8 Hebrew No-amon
Nahum 3:9 Hebrew your
Nahum 3:17 Or marshals

Micah 4

English Standard Version

The Mountain of the Lord

4 It shall come to pass ^(A)in the latter days
    that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
    and it shall be lifted up above the hills;
and peoples shall flow to it,
²    and many nations shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,^[a]
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
³He shall judge between many peoples,
    and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;
and they shall ^(B)beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war anymore;
⁴^(C)but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
    ^(D)and no one shall make them afraid,
    ^(E)for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
⁵For ^(F)all the peoples walk
    each in the name of its god,
but ^(G)we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
    forever and ever.

The Lord Shall Rescue Zion

⁶^(H)In that day, declares the Lord,
    ^(I)I will assemble the ^(J)lame
and gather those who have been driven away
    and those whom I have afflicted;
⁷and the lame I will make ^(K)the remnant,
    and those who were cast off, a strong nation;
and ^(L)the Lord will reign over them ^(M)in Mount Zion
    from this time forth and forevermore.

⁸And you, O tower of the flock,
    hill of the daughter of Zion,
to you shall it come,
    the former dominion shall come,
    kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.

⁹Now why do you cry aloud?
    ^(N)Is there no king in you?
^(O)Has your counselor perished,
    that ^(P)pain seized you like a woman in labor?
¹⁰^(Q)Writhe and groan,^[b] O daughter of Zion,
    like a woman in labor,
for ^(R)now you shall go out from the city
    and dwell in the open country;
    you ^(S)shall go to Babylon.
There you shall be rescued;
    ^(T)there the Lord will redeem you
    from the hand of your enemies.

¹¹Now ^(U)many nations
    are assembled against you,
saying, “Let her be defiled,
    and ^(V)let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”
¹²But ^(W)they do not know
    the thoughts of the Lord;
they do not understand his plan,
    that ^(X)he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.
¹³Arise and thresh,
    O daughter of Zion,
for I will make your horn iron,
    and I will make your hoofs bronze;
you shall beat in pieces many peoples;
    and ^(Y)shall devote^[c] ^(Z)their gain to the Lord,
    their wealth to ^(AA)the Lord of the whole earth.