Nahum 1-3

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^[k] are ^(DE)like grasshoppers,
    ^(DF)your scribes^[l] 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?

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 guards
Nahum 3:17 Or marshals

Colossians 2

English Standard Version

2 For I want you to know ^(A)how great a ^(B)struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, ²that ^(C)their hearts may be encouraged, being ^(D)knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of ^(E)God's mystery, which is Christ, ³^(F)in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ⁴I say this in order ^(G)that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. ⁵For ^(H)though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your ^(I)good order and ^(J)the firmness of your faith in Christ.

Alive in Christ

⁶^(K)Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ⁷^(L)rooted and ^(M)built up in him and ^(N)established in the faith, just ^(O)as you were taught, abounding ^(P)in thanksgiving.

⁸See to it that no one takes you captive by ^(Q)philosophy and ^(R)empty deceit, according to ^(S)human tradition, according to the ^(T)elemental spirits^[a] of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹For ^(U)in him the whole fullness of deity dwells ^(V)bodily, ¹⁰and ^(W)you have been filled in him, who is ^(X)the head of all rule and authority. ¹¹In him also ^(Y)you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by ^(Z)putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹²^(AA)having been buried with him in baptism, in which ^(AB)you were also raised with him through faith in ^(AC)the powerful working of God, ^(AD)who raised him from the dead. ¹³^(AE)And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God ^(AF)made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴by ^(AG)canceling ^(AH)the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵^(AI)He disarmed the rulers and authorities^[b] and ^(AJ)put them to open shame, by ^(AK)triumphing over them in him.^[c]

Let No One Disqualify You

¹⁶Therefore let no one ^(AL)pass judgment on you ^(AM)in questions of food and drink, or with regard to ^(AN)a festival or ^(AO)a new moon or a Sabbath. ¹⁷^(AP)These are a shadow of the things to come, but ^(AQ)the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸Let no one ^(AR)disqualify you, ^(AS)insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, ^(AT)going on in detail about visions,^[d] ^(AU)puffed up without reason by ^(AV)his sensuous mind, ¹⁹and ^(AW)not ^(AX)holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

²⁰If with Christ ^(AY)you died to the ^(AZ)elemental spirits of the world, ^(BA)why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ²¹^(BB)“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” ²²(^(BC)referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to ^(BD)human precepts and teachings? ²³These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in ^(BE)promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are ^(BF)of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.