Nahum 1 - Habakkuk 1

English Standard Version

1 ^(A)An oracle concerning ^(B)Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

God's Wrath Against Nineveh

²^(C)The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
    the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
^(D)the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
    and ^(E)keeps wrath for his enemies.
³^(F)The Lord is slow to anger and ^(G)great in power,
    and ^(H)the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.
^(I)His way is in whirlwind and storm,
    and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
⁴^(J)He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;
    he dries up all the rivers;
^(K)Bashan and ^(L)Carmel wither;
    the bloom of ^(M)Lebanon withers.
⁵^(N)The mountains quake before him;
    ^(O)the hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
    ^(P)the world and all who dwell in it.

⁶^(Q)Who can stand before his indignation?
    Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath ^(R)is poured out like fire,
    and ^(S)the rocks are broken into pieces by him.
⁷^(T)The Lord is good,
    ^(U)a stronghold in the day of trouble;
^(V)he knows those who take refuge in him.
⁸    But ^(W)with an overflowing flood
he will make a complete end of the adversaries,^[a]
    and ^(X)will pursue his enemies into darkness.
⁹What ^(Y)do you plot against the Lord?
    ^(Z)He will make a complete end;
    trouble will not rise up a second time.
¹⁰For they are ^(AA)like entangled thorns,
    like drunkards as they drink;
    ^(AB)they are consumed like stubble fully dried.
¹¹From you came one
    ^(AC)who plotted evil against the Lord,
    a worthless counselor.

¹²Thus says the Lord,
“Though they are at full strength and many,
    ^(AD)they will be cut down and pass away.
^(AE)Though I have afflicted you,
    I will afflict you no more.
¹³And now ^(AF)I will break his yoke from off you
    and will burst your bonds apart.”

¹⁴The Lord has given commandment about you:
^(AG)“No more shall your name be perpetuated;
from ^(AH)the house of your gods I will cut off
the carved image and the metal image.
^(AI)I will make your grave, ^(AJ)for you are vile.”

¹⁵^[b] ^(AK)Behold, upon the mountains, ^(AL)the feet of him
    who brings good news,
    who publishes peace!
^(AM)Keep your feasts, O Judah;
    ^(AN)fulfill your vows,
^(AO)for never again shall the worthless pass through you;
    he is utterly cut off.

The Destruction of Nineveh

2 ^(AP)The scatterer has come up against you.
    ^(AQ)Man the ramparts;
    watch the road;
dress for battle;^[c]
    collect all your strength.

²For ^(AR)the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob
as the majesty of Israel,
for plunderers have plundered them
and ^(AS)ruined their branches.

³The shield of his mighty men is red;
    ^(AT)his soldiers are clothed in scarlet.
The chariots come with flashing metal
    on the day he musters them;
    the cypress spears are brandished.
⁴^(AU)The chariots race madly through the streets;
    they rush to and fro through the squares;
they gleam like torches;
    they dart like lightning.
⁵He remembers ^(AV)his officers;
    ^(AW)they stumble as they go,
they hasten to the wall;
    the siege tower^[d] is set up.
⁶^(AX)The river gates are opened;
    the palace ^(AY)melts away;
⁷its mistress^[e] is ^(AZ)stripped;^[f] she is carried off,
    her slave girls ^(BA)lamenting,
moaning like doves
    and beating their breasts.
⁸^(BB)Nineveh is like a pool
    whose waters run away.^[g]
“Halt! Halt!” they cry,
    but ^(BC)none turns back.
⁹Plunder the silver,
    plunder the gold!
There is no end of the treasure
    or of the wealth of all precious things.

¹⁰^(BD)Desolate! Desolation and ruin!
    ^(BE)Hearts melt and ^(BF)knees tremble;
^(BG)anguish is in all loins;
    ^(BH)all faces grow pale!
¹¹Where is the lions' den,
    the feeding place of ^(BI)the young lions,
where the lion and lioness went,
    where his cubs were, with ^(BJ)none to disturb?
¹²^(BK)The lion tore enough for his cubs
    and ^(BL)strangled prey for his lionesses;
he filled his caves with prey
    and his dens with torn flesh.

¹³^(BM)Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and ^(BN)I will burn your^[h] chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and ^(BO)the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.

Woe to Nineveh

3 Woe to ^(BP)the bloody city,
    all full of lies and plunder—
    ^(BQ)no end to the prey!
²The crack of the whip, and ^(BR)rumble of the wheel,
    ^(BS)galloping horse and ^(BT)bounding chariot!
³Horsemen charging,
    flashing sword and ^(BU)glittering spear,
^(BV)hosts of slain,
    heaps of corpses,
dead bodies without end—
    they stumble over the bodies!
⁴And all for the countless whorings of the ^(BW)prostitute,
    ^(BX)graceful and of deadly charms,
who betrays nations with her whorings,
    and peoples with her charms.

⁵^(BY)Behold, I am against you,
    declares the Lord of hosts,
    and ^(BZ)will lift up your skirts over your face;
and I will make nations look at ^(CA)your nakedness
    and kingdoms at your shame.
⁶I will throw filth at you
    and ^(CB)treat you with contempt
    and make you ^(CC)a spectacle.
⁷And all who look at you ^(CD)will shrink from you and say,
“Wasted is ^(CE)Nineveh; ^(CF)who will grieve for her?”
    ^(CG)Where shall I seek comforters for you?

⁸^(CH)Are you better than ^(CI)Thebes^[i]
    that sat ^(CJ)by the Nile,
with water around her,
    her rampart a sea,
    and water her wall?
⁹^(CK)Cush was her strength;
    Egypt too, and that without limit;
    ^(CL)Put and the ^(CM)Libyans were her^[j] helpers.

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

¹⁴^(CV)Draw water for the siege;
    ^(CW)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 ^(CX)devour you ^(CY)like the locust.
Multiply yourselves ^(CZ)like the locust;
    multiply ^(DA)like the grasshopper!
¹⁶You increased ^(DB)your merchants
    more than the stars of the heavens.
    ^(DC)The locust spreads its wings and flies away.

¹⁷Your ^(DD)princes are ^(DE)like grasshoppers,
    ^(DF)your scribes^[k] 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 ^(DG)are asleep,
    O king of Assyria;
    ^(DH)your nobles slumber.
Your people ^(DI)are scattered on the mountains
    with none to gather them.
¹⁹There is no easing your hurt;
    ^(DJ)your wound is grievous.
All who hear the news about you
    ^(DK)clap their hands over you.
For ^(DL)upon whom has not come
    your unceasing evil?

1 ^(DM)The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

Habakkuk's Complaint

²O Lord, ^(DN)how long shall I cry for help,
    and you will not hear?
Or cry to you ^(DO)“Violence!”
    and you will not save?
³^(DP)Why do you make me see iniquity,
    and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction ^(DQ)and violence are before me;
    strife and contention arise.
⁴^(DR)So the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never goes forth.
^(DS)For the wicked surround the righteous;
    so justice goes forth perverted.

The Lord's Answer

⁵^(DT)“Look among the nations, and see;
    wonder and be astounded.
^(DU)For I am doing a work in your days
    that you would not believe if told.
⁶For behold, ^(DV)I am raising up the Chaldeans,
    that bitter and hasty nation,
^(DW)who march through the breadth of the earth,
    ^(DX)to seize dwellings not their own.
⁷They are dreaded and fearsome;
    ^(DY)their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
⁸^(DZ)Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    more fierce than ^(EA)the evening wolves;
    their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
    ^(EB)they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
⁹They all come ^(EC)for violence,
    all their faces forward.
    They gather captives ^(ED)like sand.
¹⁰At kings they scoff,
    and at rulers they laugh.
^(EE)They laugh at every fortress,
    for ^(EF)they pile up earth and take it.
¹¹Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
    ^(EG)guilty men, ^(EH)whose own might is their god!”

Habakkuk's Second Complaint

¹²Are you not ^(EI)from everlasting,
    O Lord my God, my Holy One?
    ^(EJ)We shall not die.
O Lord, ^(EK)you have ordained them as a judgment,
    and you, O ^(EL)Rock, have established them for reproof.
¹³You who are ^(EM)of purer eyes than to see evil
    and cannot look at wrong,
^(EN)why do you idly look at traitors
    and ^(EO)remain silent when the wicked swallows up
    the man more righteous than he?
¹⁴You make mankind like the fish of the sea,
    like crawling things that have no ruler.
¹⁵^(EP)He^[l] brings all of them up ^(EQ)with a hook;
    he drags them out with his net;
he gathers them in his dragnet;
    so he rejoices and is glad.
¹⁶^(ER)Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and makes offerings to his dragnet;
for by them he lives in luxury,^[m]
    and his food is rich.
¹⁷Is he then to keep on emptying his net
    ^(ES)and mercilessly killing nations forever?

Footnotes

Nahum 1:8 Hebrew of her place
Nahum 1:15 Ch 2:1 in Hebrew
Nahum 2:1 Hebrew gird your loins
Nahum 2:5 Or the mantelet
Nahum 2:7 The meaning of the Hebrew word rendered its mistress is uncertain
Nahum 2:7 Or exiled
Nahum 2:8 Compare Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
Nahum 2:13 Hebrew her
Nahum 3:8 Hebrew No-amon
Nahum 3:9 Hebrew your
Nahum 3:17 Or marshals
Habakkuk 1:15 That is, the wicked foe
Habakkuk 1:16 Hebrew his portion is fat

Revelation 17

English Standard Version

The Great Prostitute and the Beast

17 Then ^(A)one of the seven angels who had ^(B)the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of ^(C)the great prostitute ^(D)who is seated on many waters, ²^(E)with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and ^(F)with the wine of whose sexual immorality ^(G)the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” ³And ^(H)he carried me away in the Spirit ^(I)into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on ^(J)a scarlet beast that was full of ^(K)blasphemous names, and ^(L)it had seven heads and ten horns. ⁴The woman ^(M)was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned ^(N)with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand ^(O)a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. ⁵And on her forehead was written a name of ^(P)mystery: ^(Q)“Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.” ⁶And I saw the woman, drunk ^(R)with the blood of the saints, the blood of ^(S)the martyrs of Jesus.^[a]

When I saw her, I marveled greatly. ⁷But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you ^(T)the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. ⁸The beast that you saw ^(U)was, and is not, and ^(V)is about to rise from ^(W)the bottomless pit^[b] and ^(X)go to destruction. And ^(Y)the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in ^(Z)the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because ^(AA)it was and is not and is to come. ⁹^(AB)This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; ¹⁰they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. ¹¹As for the beast ^(AC)that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. ¹²And ^(AD)the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings ^(AE)for one hour, together with the beast. ¹³These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. ¹⁴They ^(AF)will make war on the Lamb, and ^(AG)the Lamb will conquer them, for he is ^(AH)Lord of lords and ^(AI)King of kings, and those with him are ^(AJ)called and chosen and faithful.”

¹⁵And the angel^[c] said to me, ^(AK)“The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. ¹⁶And ^(AL)the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast ^(AM)will hate the prostitute. They will make her ^(AN)desolate and ^(AO)naked, and ^(AP)devour her flesh and ^(AQ)burn her up with fire, ¹⁷for ^(AR)God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and ^(AS)handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. ¹⁸And the woman that you saw is ^(AT)the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”