The Daily Audio Bible

1 The burden of Ninive. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elcesite.

² The Lord is a jealous God, and a revenger: the Lord is a revenger, and hath wrath: the Lord taketh vengeance on his adversaries, and he is angry with his enemies.

³ The Lord is patient, and great in power, and will not cleanse and acquit the guilty. The Lord's ways are in a tempest, and a whirlwind, and clouds are the dust of his feet.

⁴ He rebuketh the sea, and drieth it up: and bringeth all the rivers to be a desert. Basan languisheth and Carmel: and the flower of Libanus fadeth away.

⁵ The mountains tremble at him, and the hills are made desolate: and the earth hath quaked at his presence, and the world, and all that dwell therein.

⁶ Who can stand before the face of his indignation? and who shall resist in the fierceness of his anger? his indignation is poured out like fire: and the rocks are melted by him.

⁷ The Lord is good and giveth strength in the day of trouble: and knoweth them that hope in him.

⁸ But with a flood that passeth by, he will make an utter end of the place thereof: and darkness shall pursue his enemies.

⁹ What do ye devise against the Lord? he will make an utter end: there shall not rise a double affliction.

¹⁰ For as thorns embrace one another: so while they are feasting and drinking together, they shall be consumed as stubble that is fully dry.

¹¹ Out of thee shall come forth one that imagineth evil against the Lord, contriving treachery in his mind.

¹² Thus saith the Lord: Though they were perfect: and many of them so, yet thus shall they be cut off, and he shall pass: I have afflicted thee, and I will afflict thee no more.

¹³ And now I will break in pieces his rod with which he struck thy back, and I will burst thy bonds asunder.

¹⁴ And the Lord will give a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name shall be sown: I will destroy the graven and molten thing out of the house of thy God, I will make it thy grave, for thou art disgraced.

¹⁵ Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, and that preacheth peace: O Juda, keep thy festivals, and pay thy vows: for Belial shall no more pass through thee again, he is utterly cut off.

2 He is come up that shall destroy before thy face, that shall keep the siege: watch the way, fortify thy loins, strengthen thy power exceedingly.

² For the Lord hath rendered the pride of Jacob, as the pride of Israel: because the spoilers have laid them waste, and have marred their vine branches.

³ The shield of his mighty men is like fire, the men of the army are clad in scarlet, the reins of the chariot are flaming in the day of his preparation, and the drivers are stupefied.

⁴ They are in confusion in the ways, the chariots jostle one against another in the streets: their looks are like torches, like lightning running to and fro.

⁵ He will muster up his valiant men, they shall stumble in their march: they shall quickly get upon the walls thereof: and a covering shall be prepared.

⁶ The gates of the rivers are opened, and the temple is thrown down to the ground.

⁷ And the soldier is led away captive: and her bondwomen were led away mourning as doves, murmuring in their hearts.

⁸ And as for Ninive, her waters are like a great pool, but the men flee away. They cry: Stand, stand, but there is none that will return back.

⁹ Take ye the spoil of the silver, take the spoil of the gold: for there is no end of the riches of all the precious furniture.

¹⁰ She is destroyed, and rent, and torn: the heart melteth, and the knees fail, and all the loins lose their strength: and the faces of them all are as the blackness of a kettle.

¹¹ Where is now the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, to which the lion went, to enter in thither, the young lion, and there was none to make them afraid?

¹² The lion caught enough for his whelps, and killed for his lionesses: and he filled his holes with prey, and his den with rapine.

¹³ Behold I come against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will burn thy chariots even to smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey out of the land, and the voice of thy messengers shall be heard no more.

3 Woe to thee, O city of blood, all full of lies and violence: rapine shall not depart from thee.

² The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the neighing horse, and of the running chariot, and of the horsemen coming up,

³ And of the shining sword, and of the glittering spear, and of a multitude slain, and of a grievous destruction: and there is no end of carcasses, and they shall fall down on their dead bodies.

⁴ Because of the multitude of the fornications of the harlot that was beautiful and agreeable, and that made use of witchcraft, that sold nations through her fornications, and families through her witchcrafts.

⁵ Behold I come against thee, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will discover thy shame to thy face, and will shew thy nakedness to the nations, and thy shame to kingdoms.

⁶ And I will cast abominations upon thee, and will disgrace thee, and will make an example of thee.

⁷ And it shall come to pass that every one that shall see thee, shall flee from thee, and shall say: Ninive is laid waste: who shall bemoan thee? whence shall I seek a comforter for thee?

⁸ Art thou better than the populous Alexandria, that dwelleth among the rivers? waters are round about it: the sea is its riches, the waters are its walls.

⁹ Ethiopia and Egypt were the strength thereof, and there is no end: Africa and the Libyans were thy helpers.

¹⁰ Yet she also was removed and carried into captivity: her young children were dashed in pieces at the top of every street, and they cast lots upon her nobles, and all her great men were bound in fetters.

¹¹ Therefore thou also shalt be made drunk, and shalt be despised: and thou shalt seek help from the enemy.

¹² All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with their green figs: if they be shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of the eater.

¹³ Behold thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open to thy enemies, the fire shall devour thy bars.

¹⁴ Draw thee water for the siege, build up thy bulwarks: go into the clay, and tread, work it and make brick.

¹⁵ There shall the fire devour thee: thou shalt perish by the sword, it shall devour thee like the bruchus: assemble together like the bruchus, make thyself many like the locust.

¹⁶ Thou hast multiplied thy merchandises above the stars of heaven: the bruchus hath spread himself and flown away.

¹⁷ Thy guards are like the locusts: and thy little ones like the locusts of locusts which swarm on the hedges in the day of cold: the sun arose, and they flew away, and their place was not known where they were.

¹⁸ Thy shepherds have slumbered, O king of Assyria, thy princes shall be buried: thy people are hid in the mountains, and there is none to gather them together.

¹⁹ Thy destruction is not hidden, thy wound is grievous: all that have heard the fame of thee, have clapped their hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?

8 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven, as it were for half an hour.

² And I saw seven angels standing in the presence of God; and there were given to them seven trumpets.

³ And another angel came, and stood before the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to him much incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne of God.

⁴ And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel.

⁵ And the angel took the censer, and filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it on the earth, and there were thunders and voices and lightnings, and a great earthquake.

⁶ And the seven angels, who had the seven trumpets, prepared themselves to sound the trumpet.

⁷ And the first angel sounded the trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood, and it was cast on the earth, and the third part of the earth was burnt up, and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

⁸ And the second angel sounded the trumpet: and as it were a great mountain, burning with fire, was cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became blood:

⁹ And the third part of those creatures died, which had life in the sea, and the third part of the ships was destroyed.

¹⁰ And the third angel sounded the trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, burning as it were a torch, and it fell on the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters:

¹¹ And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

¹² And the fourth angel sounded the trumpet, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so that the third part of them was darkened, and the day did not shine for a third part of it, and the night in like manner.

¹³ And I beheld, and heard the voice of one eagle flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice: Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth: by reason of the rest of the voices of the three angels, who are yet to sound the trumpet.

136 Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept: when we remembered Sion:

² On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments.

³ For there they that led us into captivity required of us the words of songs. And they that carried us away, said: Sing ye to us a hymn of the songs of Sion.

⁴ How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?

⁵ If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten.

⁶ Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember thee: If I make not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy.

⁷ Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem: Who say: Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

⁸ O daughter of Babylon, miserable: blessed shall he be who shall repay thee thy payment which thou hast paid us.

⁹ Blessed be he that shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock.

⁷ Two things I have asked of thee, deny them not to me before I die.

⁸ Remove far from me vanity, and lying words. Give me neither beggary, nor riches: give me only the necessaries of life:

⁹ Lest perhaps being filled, I should be tempted to deny, and say: Who is the Lord? or being compelled by poverty, I should steal, and forswear the name of my God.