Historical
Superscription
1 The oracle concerning Nineveh—
the scroll of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:
Half-Acrostic: Yahweh Takes Vengeance against His Enemies
2 Yahweh is a jealous God and avenging;
Yahweh is avenging and full of wrath.[a]
Yahweh takes vengeance against his enemies;
he rages against his adversaries.
3 Yahweh is slow to anger but great in power;
he will certainly not allow the guilty to go unpunished.
He marches[b] in storm wind and in gale;
storm clouds are the dust of his feet.
4 He rebukes the sea and he dries up the rivers;
he makes all the rivers run dry.
Bashan and Carmel wither;[c]
the blossom of Lebanon languishes.
5 Mountains quake before him;
the hills shake apart.[d]
The earth heaves before him—
the world and all her inhabitants.
6 His indignation—who can stand before it?
Who can endure his fierce anger?[e]
His wrath is poured out like fire;
rocks are shattered before[f] him.
7 Yahweh is good—a refuge in the day of distress;
he knows those who take refuge in him.
8 But with a rushing torrent he will bring Nineveh to an end;
he will chase his enemies into darkness.
Yahweh Will Destroy Nineveh
9 What[g] do you plot against Yahweh?
He will completely destroy it;[h]
trouble will not rise up a second time!
10 For like entangled thorns,
and like their drink which is drunk,
they will be consumed like fully dry chaff.
11 From you goes out one who plots evil against Yahweh,
one who plans wickedness.
Yahweh Will Deliver Judah and Destroy Nineveh
12 Yahweh says this:
“Even though they are powerful and likewise many,
even so they will be cut off and pass away.
Though I have afflicted you,[i]
I will afflict you[j] no longer.
13 And now, I will break his yoke from upon you;
I will snap your bonds.”
14 Yahweh has commanded concerning you:
“Your name will no longer be sown.
I will cut off the idols and images[k] from the temple[l] of your gods;
I will send you to the grave[m] because you are worthless.”
15 [n] Look! On the mountains!
The feet of the one who brings good tidings,
the one who proclaims peace!
“Celebrate a festival, O Judah,
Fulfill your vows!
For he will not invade you again;
the wicked one is cut off completely!”
The Divine Warrior Will Attack Nineveh
2 One who shatters[o] has come up against you!
Guard the fortification!
Watch the road![p]
Gird your loins!
Muster[q] all your strength!
2 For Yahweh will restore the majesty of Jacob
like the majesty of Israel;
for ravagers have ravaged them
and ruined their branches.
The Enemy Army Conquers the City of Nineveh
3 The shields of his warriors are dyed red;
The powerful men are dressed in scarlet.
The metal of the chariots[r] shines like fire on the day of battle,[s]
and their spears quiver.
4 The chariots[t] race madly through the streets;
they rush back and forth in the public squares.
Their appearance like lightning bolts,
they dart about like flashes of lightning.
5 He calls his officers;
they stumble as they march;
they rush to her wall;
they set the covering[u] in place.
6 The gates of the river are opened;
the palace trembles.
7 Her goddess is taken out and taken into exile;[v]
her maidservants moan like doves;
they beat on their breasts.
8 Nineveh is like a pool of water without its water.[w]
As they flee,[x] she cries, “Stop! Stop!”
But there is no one who turns back.
9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!
There is no end to the spoils,[y]
an abundance of everything one could want![z]
10 Emptiness and plundering and devastation!
Their hearts faint and their knees tremble,[aa]
All their loins shake[ab] and all their faces turn[ac] pale.
The Divine Warrior Will Hunt down the Mighty Lions
11 Where now is the den of the lions
and the cave of the fierce lions?
There the lioness, the cub, and the lion once prowled,[ad]
and no one disturbed them.[ae]
12 The lion tore apart enough prey for his cubs,
he strangled prey for his lioness;
he filled his lair[af] with prey
and his den with mangled carcass.
13 “Look! I am against you!” declares[ag] Yahweh of hosts.
“I will burn her chariots with fire;[ah]
the sword will devour fierce lions.
I will cut off your prey from the earth;
the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.”
The Doom of the Wicked City is Certain
3 Woe to the city that has shed much blood![ai]
She is a deceiver,[aj]
She is filled with plunder,
She has hoarded her spoils of war.[ak]
2 The crack of the whip!
The rumbling of the chariot wheel!
The galloping of the horse!
The racing of the chariot!
3 Chariots charge!
Swords flash!
Spears glitter!
Many corpses are piled high![al]
There is no end to the slain!
They stumble over their dead!
Harlot Nineveh Will Get What She Deserves
4 “Because of the many idolatries of the prostitute,
the beautiful charm of a mistress of witchcraft,
she who enslaves nations by her harlotries,
and peoples by her sorceries,
5 “Look! I am against you!” declares[am]Yahweh.
“I will strip up your skirts over your face;
I will let nations look at your nakedness and your shame.
6 “I will throw filth upon you,
I will treat you with contempt,
I will make you a spectacle.
7 “And it will be that everyone who sees you will flee from you,
And they[an] will say, ‘Nineveh is destroyed!’
Who will mourn for her?
From whence shall I seek comforters for you?”
Nineveh Will Suffer the Same Fate She Inflicted on Thebes
8 Are you better than Thebes?[ao]
She who sits at the Nile, surrounded by her waters,
her rampart was the sea and water was her wall.
9 Cush was her strength, Egypt without end;
Put and Libya were among your allies.[ap]
10 Yet she went into captivity as an exile;
her children were dashed to pieces at the head of the streets;
they cast lots for all of her nobles;
all of her dignitaries were bound with chains.
11 You also will behave like a drunkard;
You also will hide yourself;
You also will seek refuge from the enemy.
Nineveh’s Defenses Will Fail
12 All of your fortifications are like fig trees with ripe firstfruits—
if they are shaken, they will fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Look! Your troops are like women in your midst.
The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies;
fire will consume the bars of your gates.
14 Draw water for a siege!
Strengthen your fortifications!
Go to the mud pit!
Trample the clay!
Grasp the brick mold!
15 There fire will consume you;
the sword will cut you off.
It will consume you like the locust.
Nineveh’s Defenders Will Flee
Multiply yourself like the locust!
Multiply yourself like the grasshopper!
16 You have increased your merchants more than the stars of heaven;
like the locust they will shed their skin and fly away.
17 Your officials are like locusts;
your commanders are like a swarm of locusts.
They encamp on the walls on a cold day;
when the sun rises, they fly away—
no one knows where they have gone.
Nineveh Will Come to an End
18 Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria!
Your nobles slumber.
Your people are scattered on the mountains;
no one can gather them.
19 There is no healing for your wound;
your injury is fatal.
All who hear the report of you will clap their hands for joy concerning you,
For who has not suffered at the hands of your endless cruelty?[aq]
Habakkuk’s Complaint
1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 O Yahweh, how long shall I cry for help
and you will not listen?
How long will I cry out to you, “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you cause me to see evil
while you look at trouble?
Destruction and violence happen before me;
contention and strife arise.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice does not go forth perpetually.[a]
For the wicked surround the righteous;
therefore justice goes forth perverted.
God’s Answer to Habakkuk
5 “Look among the nations and see;
be astonished and astounded.
For a work is about to be done in your days
that you will not believe if it is told.
6 For look! I am raising up the Chaldeans,
the bitter and impetuous nation,
the one who walks through the spacious places of earth
to take possession of dwellings not belonging to it.[b]
7 They[c] are dreadful and awesome;
their[d] justice and their[e] dignity proceed from themselves.[f]
8 Their[g] horses are more swift than leopards;
they are more menacing than wolves at dusk.
Their[h] horsemen gallop; their[i] horsemen come from afar;
they fly like an eagle that is swift to devour.
9 All of them[j] come for violence,
their faces pressing forward.
They gather captives like the sand.
10 And they themselves scoff at kings
and rulers are a joke to them.
They laugh at every fortification,
and they heap up earth and take it.
11 Then they sweep like the wind and pass on;
they become guilty, whose might is their[k] god!”
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
12 Are you not from of old,
O Yahweh my God, my Holy One?
You[l] shall not die.
O Yahweh, you have marked them[m] for judgment;
O Rock, you have established them[n] for reproof.
13 Your eyes are too pure to see evil,
and you are not able to look at wrongdoing.[o]
Why do you look at the treacherous?
Why are you silent when the wicked swallows up
someone more righteous than him?
14 You make humankind like fish of the sea,
like crawling creatures that have no ruler among them.
15 He brings up all of them with a fishhook;
he drags them up with a fishnet;
he gathers them in his dragnet.
Therefore, he rejoices and exults.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his fishnet
and makes offerings to his dragnet,
for by them he makes a good living[p]
and his food is rich.
17 Will he therefore empty his fishnet
and continually kill nations without showing mercy?
The Righteous Will Live by Faith
2 I will stand at my post,
and station myself on the rampart.
And I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
2 Then Yahweh answered me and said,
“Write the vision and make it plain on the tablet
so that it might be read quickly.[q]
3 For there is yet a vision for the appointed time;
it will give witness to the end, and it will not lie.
If it tarries, wait for it,
for it will surely come and not delay.
4 Look! His spirit within him is puffed up;
it is not upright.
But the righteous shall live by his faithfulness.
5 How much less[r] the defiant;[s]
the arrogant, treacherous man?
He who broadens his throat like Sheol,
and who, like death, is not satisfied,
and who gathers to himself all the nations,
and harvested for himself all the peoples,
will not succeed.
6 Shall not all of these take up a taunt against him,
with ridicule and riddles against him, saying,
‘Woe to him who heaps up what is not his’?
For how long?
And, ‘Woe to him who makes himself heavy with pledges’?
7 Will not your creditors suddenly rise up
and awaken those who make you tremble?
Then you shall be as plunder for them.
8 Because you plundered many nations,
all the remaining nations will plunder you
on account of the blood of humanity
and violence against the land,
and against cities and all who live in them.
9 Woe to him who obtains profit from evil gain for his house,
to set his nest on high,
to be saved from the hand of misfortune!
10 You have plotted shame for your house,
cutting off many peoples
and sinning against your life.
11 For the stone will cry out from the wall,
and the plaster from the wood will answer it.
12 Woe to him who builds a city by bloodguilt,
and who founds a city by wickedness!
13 Look! Is it not from Yahweh of hosts
that people labor for mere fire,
and nations exhaust themselves for mere vanity?
14 For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh,
like the waters covering the sea.
15 Woe to him who gives a drink to his neighbors,
pouring out your wrath and also making them drunk
in order to see their nakedness!
16 You will be sated with shame rather than glory.
Drink also yourself, and expose yourself!
The cup of the right hand of Yahweh
will come around upon you
and disgrace upon your glory.
17 For the violence of Lebanon will cover you,
and the destruction of wild animals will shatter them
on account of the blood of humanity,
and the violence against the land,
against a city and all the inhabitants in it.
18 What value is an idol
when its carver has fashioned it,
a molten idol, a teacher of lies?
For he who fashioned his creation trusts in it,
though making mute idols!
19 Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Wake up!’
And to a lifeless stone, ‘Arise!’
Can he teach?
Look, it is covered with gold and silver,
and there is no breath within it.
20 But Yahweh is in his holy temple.
Let all the earth be silent before him.”
The Prayer of Habakkuk
3 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
2 O Yahweh, I have heard the report of you;
O Yahweh, I stand in awe of your works.
In the midst of the years, revive it!
In the midst of the years, make it known!
In wrath, may you remember to show compassion.
3 God came from Teman;
the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah
His splendor covers the heavens,
and his praise fills the earth.
4 And his brightness was like the light;
flashing rays came from his hand for him;
And there is the covering of his strength.
5 Before him went Disease,[t]
and Pestilence[u] went out at his feet.
6 He stood and measured the earth;
he looked and made the nations tremble.
Then the mountains of old were shattered;
the hills of old collapsed.
The ways of old belong to him.
7 Under affliction I saw the tents of Cushan;
the tent curtains of the land of Midian trembled.
8 Was the anger of Yahweh against the rivers?
Was your wrath against the rivers,
or your fury against the sea,
when you mounted upon your horses,
upon your victory chariot?
9 You laid bare the nakedness of your bow,
swearing oaths with the arrows of your word.
You split the earth with rivers.
10 When the mountains saw you they writhed;
a torrent of waters swept by;
the deep gave its voice;
it raised its hands on high.
11 Sun and moon stood still in their place;
at the light of your arrows they moved about;
at the gleam of the flashing of your spear.
12 In fury you marched through the earth;
in anger you trampled the nations.
13 You went forth for the salvation of your people,
for the salvation of your anointed.
You crushed the head of the house of wickedness,
laying bare from the foundation to the top.[v]
14 You pierced the head of his warriors with his own arrows;
they came like a whirlwind to scatter me,
their exultation like one who devours the afflicted in ambush.
15 You trampled upon the sea with your horses,
the churning of many waters.
16 I hear and my stomach shakes;
my lips quiver at the sound;
infection enters my bones;
that which is beneath me trembles;
I wait quietly for the day of trouble
to come upon the people attacking us.
17 Though the fig tree does not blossom,
nor there be fruit on the vines;
the yield of the olive tree fails,
and the cultivated fields do not yield food;
the flock is cut off from the animal pen,
and there is no cattle in the stalls,
18 Yet I will rejoice in Yahweh;
I will exult in the God of my salvation.
19 Yahweh, my Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer;
he causes me to walk on my high places.
To the choirmaster with stringed instruments.
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