Beginning
1 This records the vision which burdened a man named Nahum, who came from the town of Elkosh. The vision is a message from God pronouncing what is coming to the city of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire.
2 The Eternal One won’t tolerate anything that distracts from Him
and will avenge and settle the score on behalf of His covenant people.
The Eternal will serve up justice when His anger finally overflows.
He brings justice to those who oppose Him
And sustains His fury toward those who work against Him.
3 The Eternal’s anger builds slowly, but His power is great.
He will not allow the guilty to go free.
His way is in fierce winds and storms;
the clouds are dust beneath His feet.
4 He chastises the oceans, and they all dry up;
He makes the rushing rivers run dry too.
The lush lands of Bashan and Carmel wither,
and the beautiful flowers of Lebanon shrivel.
5 In response to Him, mountains quake
and mudslides flow down melting hillsides.
The planet and all who live on it
are overwhelmed in His presence.
6 Who can stand up when His fury finally overflows?
Who can hold up under the heat of His anger?
His fury flows out like fire,
strong enough to shatter even the rocks.
7 The Eternal One is good,
a safe shelter in times of trouble.
He cares for those who search for protection in Him.
8 But with an overwhelming flood,
He will make a complete end to his enemies.
He will chase His foes into oblivion.
This divine appearance, often called a theophany, is a vivid portrayal not only of the Lord’s characteristics but also of His activity on behalf of Israel. Descriptions of fantastic weather patterns demonstrate both the mysterious elusiveness and the mighty grandeur of God. Similar to the story related in Job 38, God visits the afflicted and impoverished through these images, and that impressive power He displays in His storms benefits the oppressed. Despite unspeakable horrors the Assyrians committed against the Israelites, His people still understand that their God is good.
9 Futile are the plots you devise against the Eternal One, Nineveh,
because He will put a stop to them.
Evil will not have a second chance to rise up.
10 They are tangled up in the thorns of their own evil ways,
inebriated by their own excesses.
They are consumed by their own evil, like dried grass in a fire.[a]
11 It was one of your own, Nineveh, who hatched evil plots against the Eternal
and encouraged others toward wickedness.[b]
12 Eternal One (to His people): Although their numbers are countless and they have strong allies,
they will be stopped and their time as your oppressor will pass away.
Although I have brought trouble down on you, people of Judah,
I will bring trouble to you no more.
13 Now I will break their yoke of slavery and death from your shoulders
and tear their chains of religious and political oppression away from you.
Judgment is pronounced against the King of Assyria, his worthless gods, and his worthless life.
14 The Eternal has sent this command about you, king of Nineveh.
Eternal One: You will have no descendants left to carry on your name.
I will destroy the things you have carved and cast with your own hands,
Idols you have made to fill the temples of your gods.
I will personally prepare your grave because you are totally despicable!
15 Look, here comes a runner across the mountains bringing good news, announcing peace!
Celebrate your festivals, people of Judah, and keep the promises you made.
Those wicked armies[c] of Nineveh will never invade you again.
He is utterly cut off.
2 Nineveh, an attacker is moving in to scatter you.
You had better guard your fortress,
Keep watch up and down your streets,
strap your war belt around your waist,
And gather all the strength you can.
2 The Eternal One will restore all the glory given to Jacob;
the new nation will resemble the splendor of Israel in its day,
Although destroyers destroyed everything,
even decimating every branch of Jacob’s family tree.
3 Here comes your attacker’s best warriors with gleaming red shields;
the soldiers are in scarlet armor.
Chariots gleam and flash like fire with their approach.
They were carefully made ready for battle.
They taunt you by waving strong spears before you.[d]
4 See the chariots race each other up and down your streets,
rushing back and forth through the city.
They look like flaming torches.
They dart like lightning bolts.
5 Your king remembers his specially-trained forces,
but they can’t get it together, stumbling as they march.
They run to protect the city wall
and try to shield it from the attackers. Their resistance fails.
Nineveh has hundreds of towers along her walls, some up to 200 feet in height, but before the judgment of God they will dissolve.
6 The city gates at the rivers are thrown wide open,
and the palace collapses in the resulting flood.
7 A decree is set and goes out: Nineveh will be ransacked.
She is stripped and will be carried far away from home.
You can hear the young girls pounding their breaking hearts
and moaning like terrified doves.
8 Nineveh was a shimmering pool of water, full to the brim in the days of her glory,
but look, her soldiers are draining away.
“Stop! Stop!” the Assyrian commanders shout,
but no one turns back. The destruction continues.
9 The attacker commands, “Take all the silver;
take all the gold!
The supply is endless.
After all, their treasury is full of stolen wealth.”
10 Every corner of the city is turned upside down, ransacked, stripped bare.
She will lose all hope; her knees give way;
she will shake with fear and turn white as a sheet.
11 Where now is Nineveh’s famous and deadly lion’s den?
The place where they nourish their young lions into killing machines?
The place where the lion and the lioness go, along with their cubs, to feed on victims?
The place where they had nothing to fear?
12 The lion always kills enough for his cubs
and strangles the prey for his mate,
Filling up the lair with the blood and bones and flesh of its kill
and his dens with the fallen prey.
13 Eternal One: I stand against you, Nineveh!
I will command My heavenly army to burn up your chariots till the smoke rises up
And to consume your young lions with the sword.
I will leave nothing in the land to sustain you.
The voice of your messengers will never again be heard.
3 Hopelessness and despair,
that’s the destiny of the city that shed so much blood,
That perfected its use of lies,
that overflows with stolen treasures,
Leaving behind endless victims.
2 The sharp cracking of the whip in the air;
clattering of wheels on the streets;
Galloping horse hooves;
clanging, banging chariots;
3 Charging cavalry troops;
flashing swords and gleaming spears;
Armies of casualties, piles of dead bodies—too many to count—
so many you can’t walk without stumbling over them!
4 This is all because you tempted and lured the nations like a harlot,
dangling the allure of immorality.
You were a sorceress promising control of the spiritual world,
enslaving nations to lives of immorality and families to sorcery.
Nineveh is laid waste as God watches.
5 Eternal One: Look at Me and My armies.
I stand against you, Nineveh!
I will treat you like the harlot you are, lifting your dress over your face—
peeling back your outward façade
And exposing your true condition, your nakedness underneath.
You will be humiliated and ashamed in front of the world.
6 I’ll throw all your own filth on you.
I’ll treat you with contempt and make a humiliating public display of you.
7 Then the whole world will turn its back on you and flee, saying,
“Poor, pitiful Nineveh—you are totally ruined.”
Is there anyone who will sympathize with you?
Where will I find anyone to comfort you?
Nahum expresses God’s sentiment against Nineveh, and it is not attractive! The prophet uses graphic images to show how angry God truly is. If showing the nakedness of the Assyrian people to the nations is not demoralizing enough, then the shame of God throwing excrement at His enemies is unmistakable. The indignity of being stripped naked and covered in filth is the fullest expression of God’s rejection. While these images are disturbing, they are also typical of how powerful enemies, such as the armies of Nineveh, have treated their victims. Now the table is turned; the victor is now the victim. There is no one to comfort the Assyrian people: they are without a prophet; they are without a poet; they are without hope.
8 Are you any stronger than the city of Thebes[e] in its glory days?
Sitting at the edge of the Nile, its waters created a moat of protection on one side of her.
The Red Sea was a perfect defense against her eastern enemies,
As good as the protection of a wall.
9 The bounty of the regions of Cush and Egypt supported her, and
the areas of Put and Libya were her[f] strong allies.
10 Yet she was taken captive and exiled.
Her babies were broken to pieces at the crossroads of every street.
They tossed lots into a bag and drew out names to establish control of her honored men;
all her best and brightest were put in chains.
11 And just like them, you will go into hiding, getting drunk to escape your terror,
searching for some place to hide from your enemies.
12 But those strongholds, Nineveh, are easy pickings,
like figs on a tree when they first become ripe.
Just shake the tree,
and figs fall into your open mouth.
13 Look at your fierce troops surrounding you now.
They cower like untrained women, not battle-hardened warriors.
The gates that should have protected your land
instead are standing wide open.
Fire burns through the bars; your enemies stroll right in.
14 Draw up plenty of water to put out the fires,
and prepare, for your enemy will begin a siege.
Get busy working the clay and mud to make extra bricks;
you’ll need them to repair holes punched in your walls.
15 The attackers’ fire will consume you.
Their swords will cut you down,
And like grasshoppers attacking a field of grain,
they will totally consume you.
Like grasshoppers, multiply yourselves;
like locusts, make your numbers countless.
16 You brought so many merchants
till they are more numerous than the stars in the skies.
Like grasshoppers, they strip sustenance from the land,
only to fly away before justice can be sought.
17 Your courtiers are like locusts;
your city officials like swarms of locusts
Who become chilled against the wall on a cold day.
When the sun comes up and they are warmed,
They fly away, abandoning you.
Searching, no one can find them.
18 O king of Assyria, your shepherds felt safe enough to sleep in the fields.
Your leaders slept soundly in the city.
When judgment comes, your people are scattered like lost sheep,
far and wide among the mountains.
There is no leader left to rally them together.
19 Nothing and no one can heal your wound.
Your city’s wounds are fatal; you cannot survive.
Everyone who hears the news of your destruction
claps his hands in celebration,
Because who among them has not felt
your legendary and endless cruelty?
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.