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18 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    the God of Israel, says:
“Now I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,
    just as I punished the king of Assyria.

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18 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:

“I will punish the king of Babylon and his land
    as I punished the king(A) of Assyria.(B)

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12 After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him—for he is proud and arrogant.

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12 When the Lord has finished all his work(A) against Mount Zion(B) and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria(C) for the willful pride(D) of his heart and the haughty look(E) in his eyes.

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13 And the Lord will strike the lands of the north with his fist,
    destroying the land of Assyria.
He will make its great capital, Nineveh, a desolate wasteland,
    parched like a desert.
14 The proud city will become a pasture for flocks and herds,
    and all sorts of wild animals will settle there.
The desert owl and screech owl will roost on its ruined columns,
    their calls echoing through the gaping windows.
Rubble will block all the doorways,
    and the cedar paneling will be exposed to the weather.
15 This is the boisterous city,
    once so secure.
“I am the greatest!” it boasted.
    “No other city can compare with me!”
But now, look how it has become an utter ruin,
    a haven for wild animals.
Everyone passing by will laugh in derision
    and shake a defiant fist.

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Assyria

13 He will stretch out his hand against the north
    and destroy Assyria,(A)
leaving Nineveh(B) utterly desolate
    and dry as the desert.(C)
14 Flocks and herds(D) will lie down there,
    creatures of every kind.
The desert owl(E) and the screech owl(F)
    will roost on her columns.
Their hooting will echo through the windows,
    rubble will fill the doorways,
    the beams of cedar will be exposed.
15 This is the city of revelry(G)
    that lived in safety.(H)
She said to herself,
    “I am the one! And there is none besides me.”(I)
What a ruin she has become,
    a lair for wild beasts!(J)
All who pass by her scoff(K)
    and shake their fists.(L)

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This message concerning Nineveh came as a vision to Nahum, who lived in Elkosh.

The Lord’s Anger against Nineveh

The Lord is a jealous God,
    filled with vengeance and rage.
He takes revenge on all who oppose him
    and continues to rage against his enemies!
The Lord is slow to get angry, but his power is great,
    and he never lets the guilty go unpunished.
He displays his power in the whirlwind and the storm.
    The billowing clouds are the dust beneath his feet.

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A prophecy(A) concerning Nineveh.(B) The book of the vision(C) of Nahum the Elkoshite.

The Lord’s Anger Against Nineveh

The Lord is a jealous(D) and avenging God;
    the Lord takes vengeance(E) and is filled with wrath.
The Lord takes vengeance on his foes
    and vents his wrath against his enemies.(F)
The Lord is slow to anger(G) but great in power;
    the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.(H)
His way is in the whirlwind(I) and the storm,(J)
    and clouds(K) are the dust of his feet.

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You are like mighty Assyria,
    which was once like a cedar of Lebanon,
with beautiful branches that cast deep forest shade
    and with its top high among the clouds.
Deep springs watered it
    and helped it to grow tall and luxuriant.
The water flowed around it like a river,
    streaming to all the trees nearby.
This great tree towered high,
    higher than all the other trees around it.
It prospered and grew long thick branches
    because of all the water at its roots.
The birds nested in its branches,
    and in its shade all the wild animals gave birth.
All the great nations of the world
    lived in its shadow.
It was strong and beautiful,
    with wide-spreading branches,
for its roots went deep
    into abundant water.
No other cedar in the garden of God
    could rival it.
No cypress had branches to equal it;
    no plane tree had boughs to compare.
No tree in the garden of God
    came close to it in beauty.
Because I made this tree so beautiful,
    and gave it such magnificent foliage,
it was the envy of all the other trees of Eden,
    the garden of God.

10 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because Egypt[a] became proud and arrogant, and because it set itself so high above the others, with its top reaching to the clouds, 11 I will hand it over to a mighty nation that will destroy it as its wickedness deserves. I have already discarded it. 12 A foreign army—the terror of the nations—has cut it down and left it fallen on the ground. Its branches are scattered across the mountains and valleys and ravines of the land. All those who lived in its shadow have gone away and left it lying there.

13 “The birds roost on its fallen trunk,
    and the wild animals lie among its branches.
14 Let the tree of no other nation
    proudly exult in its own prosperity,
though it be higher than the clouds
    and it be watered from the depths.
For all are doomed to die,
    to go down to the depths of the earth.
They will land in the pit
    along with everyone else on earth.

15 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When Assyria went down to the grave,[b] I made the deep springs mourn. I stopped its rivers and dried up its abundant water. I clothed Lebanon in black and caused the trees of the field to wilt. 16 I made the nations shake with fear at the sound of its fall, for I sent it down to the grave with all the others who descend to the pit. And all the other proud trees of Eden, the most beautiful and the best of Lebanon, the ones whose roots went deep into the water, took comfort to find it there with them in the depths of the earth. 17 Its allies, too, were all destroyed and had passed away. They had gone down to the grave—all those nations that had lived in its shade.

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Footnotes

  1. 31:10 Hebrew you.
  2. 31:15 Hebrew to Sheol; also in 31:16, 17.

Consider Assyria,(A) once a cedar in Lebanon,(B)
    with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest;
it towered on high,
    its top above the thick foliage.(C)
The waters(D) nourished it,
    deep springs made it grow tall;
their streams flowed
    all around its base
and sent their channels
    to all the trees of the field.(E)
So it towered higher(F)
    than all the trees of the field;
its boughs increased
    and its branches grew long,
    spreading because of abundant waters.(G)
All the birds of the sky
    nested in its boughs,
all the animals of the wild
    gave birth(H) under its branches;
all the great nations
    lived in its shade.(I)
It was majestic in beauty,
    with its spreading boughs,
for its roots went down
    to abundant waters.(J)
The cedars(K) in the garden of God
    could not rival it,
nor could the junipers
    equal its boughs,
nor could the plane trees(L)
    compare with its branches—
no tree in the garden of God
    could match its beauty.(M)
I made it beautiful
    with abundant branches,
the envy of all the trees of Eden(N)
    in the garden of God.(O)

10 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because the great cedar towered over the thick foliage, and because it was proud(P) of its height, 11 I gave it into the hands of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with according to its wickedness. I cast it aside,(Q) 12 and the most ruthless of foreign nations(R) cut it down and left it. Its boughs fell on the mountains and in all the valleys;(S) its branches lay broken in all the ravines of the land. All the nations of the earth came out from under its shade and left it.(T) 13 All the birds settled on the fallen tree, and all the wild animals lived among its branches.(U) 14 Therefore no other trees by the waters are ever to tower proudly on high, lifting their tops above the thick foliage. No other trees so well-watered are ever to reach such a height; they are all destined(V) for death,(W) for the earth below, among mortals who go down to the realm of the dead.(X)

15 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On the day it was brought down to the realm of the dead I covered the deep springs with mourning for it; I held back its streams, and its abundant waters were restrained. Because of it I clothed Lebanon with gloom, and all the trees of the field withered away.(Y) 16 I made the nations tremble(Z) at the sound of its fall when I brought it down to the realm of the dead to be with those who go down to the pit. Then all the trees(AA) of Eden,(AB) the choicest and best of Lebanon, the well-watered trees, were consoled(AC) in the earth below.(AD) 17 They too, like the great cedar, had gone down to the realm of the dead, to those killed by the sword,(AE) along with the armed men who lived in its shade among the nations.

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36 That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians[a] woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. 37 Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.

38 One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria.

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Footnotes

  1. 37:36 Hebrew When they.

36 Then the angel(A) of the Lord went out and put to death(B) a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian(C) camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 37 So Sennacherib(D) king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh(E) and stayed there.

38 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple(F) of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat.(G) And Esarhaddon(H) his son succeeded him as king.(I)

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