Historical
Yahweh’s Wrath Against Nineveh
1 The [a](A)oracle of (B)Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
Aleph
2 A (C)jealous and avenging God is [b]Yahweh;
Yahweh is (D)avenging and [c]wrathful.
Yahweh is (E)avenging against His adversaries,
And He keeps His anger for His enemies.
3 Yahweh is (F)slow to anger and great in power,
And Yahweh will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
Beth
Gimel
4 He (I)rebukes the sea and makes it dry;
He dries up all the rivers.
(J)Bashan and Carmel languish;
The blossoms of Lebanon languish.
He
5 Mountains (K)quake because of Him,
Vav
And the hills (L)melt;
Indeed the earth is (M)upheaved by His presence,
The (N)world and all the inhabitants in it.
Zayin
Heth
Teth
7 Yahweh is (S)good,
A strong defense in the day of distress,
Yodh
Kaph
9 Whatever you (W)devise against Yahweh,
He will make a (X)complete destruction of it.
Distress will not rise up twice.
10 Like tangled (Y)thorns,
And like those who are (Z)drunken with their drink,
They are (AA)consumed
As stubble fully dried up.
11 From you has gone forth
One who (AB)devised evil against Yahweh,
A [e](AC)vile counselor.
12 Thus says Yahweh,
“Though they are at full strength and likewise many,
Even so, they will be (AD)cut off and pass away.
Though I have afflicted you,
I will afflict you (AE)no longer.
13 So now, I will (AF)break his yoke bar from upon you,
And I will break your bands apart.”
14 And Yahweh has commanded concerning [f]you:
“[g]There will (AG)no longer be seed from your name.
From the house of your gods,
I will cut off (AH)graven image and molten image.
I will prepare your (AI)grave,
For you are contemptible.”
15 [h]Behold, (AJ)on the mountains the feet of him who proclaims good news,
Who [i]announces peace!
(AK)Celebrate your feasts, O Judah;
Pay your vows.
For (AL)never again will the [j]vile one pass through you;
He is (AM)cut off completely.
Yahweh’s Destruction of Nineveh
2 [k]The one who (AN)scatters has come up against [l]you.
Guard the fortification, watch the road;
Strengthen your loins, [m]instill your power with exceeding courage.
2 For Yahweh will restore the (AO)majesty of Jacob
(AP)Like the majesty of Israel,
Even though those who empty them have emptied them to destruction
And (AQ)ruined their vine branches.
3 The shields of [n]his mighty men are colored red,
The valiant men are dressed in (AR)[o]scarlet,
The chariots are enveloped in [p]flashing steel
[q]When he is set up to march,
And the cypress (AS)spears are brandished.
4 The (AT)chariots race madly in the streets;
They rush wildly in the [r]squares;
Their appearance is like torches;
They dash to and fro like lightning flashes.
5 He remembers his (AU)mighty ones;
They (AV)stumble in their march;
They hurry to her wall,
And the [s]mantelet is set up.
6 The gates of the rivers are opened,
And the palace is melted away.
7 So it stands fixed:
She is exiled, she is carried away,
And her maidservants are (AW)moaning like the sound of doves,
(AX)Beating on their hearts.
8 Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days,
Now they are fleeing;
“Stand! Stand!”
But (AY)no one [t]turns back.
9 Plunder the silver!
Plunder the (AZ)gold!
And there is no limit to the treasure—
[u]Wealth from every kind of desirable object.
10 She is (BA)emptied! Yes, she is emptied out and eviscerated!
(BB)Hearts are melting and knees knocking!
Also anguish is in all their loins,
And all their (BC)faces [v]turn pale!
11 Where is the den of the lions
And the feeding place of the (BD)young lions,
Where the lion, lioness, and lion’s cub prowled,
With nothing to make them tremble?
12 The lion tore enough for its cubs
And strangled enough for its lionesses
And filled its lairs with torn up prey
And its dens with torn up flesh.
13 “Behold, (BE)I am against you,” declares Yahweh of hosts. “And I will (BF)burn up her chariots in smoke, and a sword will devour your young lions; and I will (BG)cut off your prey from the land, and no longer will the voice of your messengers be heard.”
Woe to Nineveh
3 (BH)Woe to the city of [w]bloodshed, completely full of deception and pillage;
Her prey never departs.
2 The (BI)sound of the whip,
And the sound of the rumbling of the wheel,
Galloping horses,
And [x]bounding chariots!
3 Horsemen charging,
And swords flaming, and (BJ)spears flashing,
(BK)Many slain, a mass of corpses,
And (BL)there is no end to dead bodies—
They stumble over [y]the dead bodies!
4 All because of the (BM)many harlotries of the harlot,
The charming one, the (BN)mistress of sorceries,
Who (BO)sells nations by her harlotries
And families by her sorceries.
5 “Behold, (BP)I am against you,” declares Yahweh of hosts;
“And I will (BQ)uncover your skirts over your face
And (BR)show to the nations your nakedness
And to the kingdoms your disgrace.
6 I will (BS)throw detestable filth on you
And (BT)display you as a wicked fool
And set you up as a (BU)spectacle.
7 And it will be that all who see you
Will flee from you and say,
‘Nineveh is devastated!
(BV)Who will console her?’
Where will I seek comforters for you?”
8 Are you better than [z](BW)No-amon,
Which sits along the (BX)waters of the Nile,
With water surrounding her,
Whose rampart was [aa]the sea,
Whose wall consisted of [ab]the sea?
9 [ac](BY)Ethiopia was her might,
And Egypt too, without end.
(BZ)Put and (CA)Lubim were among [ad]her helpers.
10 Yet she (CB)became an exile;
She went into captivity;
Also her (CC)infants were dashed to pieces
(CD)At the head of every street;
They (CE)cast lots for her honorable men,
And all her great men were bound with fetters.
11 You too will become (CF)drunk;
You will be (CG)hidden.
You too will search for a strong defense from the enemy.
12 All your fortifications are (CH)fig trees with [ae](CI)ripe fruit—
When shaken, they fall into the eater’s mouth.
13 Behold, your people are (CJ)women in your midst!
The gates of your land are (CK)opened wide to your enemies;
Fire consumes your gate bars.
14 (CL)Draw for yourself water for the siege!
(CM)Strengthen your fortifications!
Go into the clay and tread the mortar!
[af]Take hold of the brick mold!
15 There, (CN)fire will consume you;
The sword will cut you down;
It will (CO)consume you as the locust does.
Multiply yourself like the creeping locust,
Multiply yourself like the swarming locust.
16 You have increased your (CP)traders more than the stars of heaven—
The creeping locust [ag]strips and flies away.
17 Your [ah](CQ)guardsmen are like the swarming locust.
Your (CR)marshals are like a locust-swarm
Encamping in the stone walls on a cold day.
The sun rises, and they flee,
And the place where they are is not known.
18 Your shepherds are (CS)sleeping, O (CT)king of Assyria;
Your (CU)mighty ones are [ai]lying down.
Your people are (CV)scattered on the mountains,
And there is no one to regather them.
19 There is (CW)no relief for your breakdown,
Your (CX)wound is incurable.
All who hear the report about you
Will (CY)clap their hands over you,
For on whom has not your evil passed continually?
Habakkuk Calls for Help
1 The [a](A)oracle which Habakkuk the prophet beheld.
2 (B)How long, O [b]Yahweh, will I call for help,
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do (C)not save.
3 Why do You make me (D)see wickedness
And cause me to look on trouble?
Indeed, (E)devastation and violence are before me;
(F)And there is strife, and contention is lifted up.
4 Therefore the (G)law is [c]ignored,
And justice never comes forth.
For the wicked (H)surround the righteous;
Therefore justice comes forth (I)perverted.
Yahweh Raises the Dreaded Chaldeans
5 “(J)See among the nations! And look!
Be also astonished! (K)Be astounded!
Because I am doing (L)something in your days—
You would not believe if it was recounted to you.
6 For behold, I am (M)raising up the Chaldeans,
That bitter and hasty nation
Who walks on the breadth of the land
To (N)possess dwelling places which are not theirs.
7 They are dreaded and (O)feared;
Their (P)justice and exaltation come forth from themselves.
8 Their (Q)horses are swifter than leopards
And [d]sharper than (R)wolves in the evening.
Their [e]horsemen come galloping;
Their horsemen come from afar;
They fly like an (S)eagle swooping down to devour.
9 All of them come for violence.
[f]Their horde of (T)faces moves forward.
And they gather captives like sand.
10 And they (U)mock at kings,
And rulers are a laughing matter to them.
They (V)laugh at every fortress
And (W)heap up dirt and capture it.
11 Then they will sweep through like the (X)wind and pass on.
But they will be held (Y)guilty,
They whose (Z)power is their god.”
Yahweh Has Placed Them to Judge
12 Are You not from (AA)everlasting,
O Yahweh, my God, my Holy One?
We will not die.
You, O Yahweh, have (AB)placed them to judge;
And You, O (AC)Rock, have established them to reprove.
13 Your eyes are too (AD)pure to see evil,
And You cannot look on trouble.
Why do You (AE)look
On those who deal (AF)treacherously?
Why are You (AG)silent when the wicked (AH)swallow up
Those more righteous than they?
14 And You have made men like the fish of the sea,
Like creeping things without a ruler over them.
15 The Chaldeans (AI)bring all of them up with a hook,
(AJ)Drag them away with their net,
And gather them together in their fishing net.
Therefore they are glad and rejoice.
16 Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net
And [g]burn incense to their fishing net
Because through (AK)these things their portion is rich
And their food is fat.
17 Will they therefore empty their (AL)net
And continually (AM)kill nations without sparing?
The Righteous Will Live by His Faith
2 I will (AN)stand on my guard post
And station myself on the fortification;
And I will (AO)keep watch to see (AP)what He will speak to me
And how I may respond [h]when I am reproved.
2 Then Yahweh answered me and said,
“(AQ)Write down the vision
And write it on tablets distinctly,
That [i]the one who [j]reads it may run.
3 For the vision is yet for the (AR)appointed time;
It pants toward its end, and it will not [k]lie.
Though it tarries, (AS)wait for it;
For it will certainly come; it (AT)will not delay.
4 “Behold, as for the (AU)proud one,
His soul is not right within him;
But the (AV)righteous will live by his [l]faith.
5 And indeed, (AW)wine betrays the (AX)haughty man
So that he does not (AY)stay at home.
He (AZ)enlarges his appetite like Sheol,
And he is like death, never satisfied.
He also gathers to himself all nations
And assembles to himself all peoples.
6 “Will not all of these (BA)lift up a taunt-song against him,
Even satire and riddles against him
And say, ‘(BB)Woe to him who increases what is not his—
For how long—
And makes himself [m]rich with loans?’
7 Will not [n]your creditors (BC)rise up suddenly,
And those who make you tremble awaken?
Indeed, you will become spoil for them.
8 Because you have (BD)taken many nations as spoil,
All that is left of the peoples will take you as spoil—
Because of human bloodshed and violence [o]done to the land,
To the town and all its inhabitants.
9 “Woe to him who is greedy for (BE)evil gain for his house
To (BF)put his nest on high,
To be delivered from the hand of evil!
10 You have counseled a (BG)shameful thing for your house
By cutting off many peoples;
So you are (BH)sinning against your own soul.
11 Surely the (BI)stone will cry out from the wall,
And the rafter will answer it from the [p]framework.
12 “Woe to him who (BJ)builds a city with bloodshed
And founds a town with injustice!
13 Is it not, behold, from Yahweh of hosts
That peoples (BK)toil for fire,
And nations grow weary for nothing?
14 For the earth will be (BL)filled
With the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh,
As the waters cover the sea.
15 “Woe to you who make [q]your neighbors drink,
Who mix in your venom even to make them drunk
So as to look on their nakedness!
16 You will be filled with disgrace rather than glory.
Now you yourself (BM)drink and [r]expose your own nakedness.
The (BN)cup in Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you,
And (BO)utter disgrace will come upon your glory.
17 For the (BP)violence [s]done to Lebanon will cover you,
And the devastation of its beasts [t]by which you terrified them,
(BQ)Because of human bloodshed and (BR)violence [u]done to the land,
To the town and all its inhabitants.
18 “What (BS)profit is the graven image when its maker has engraved it,
Or a molten image, a (BT)teacher of [v]lies?
For its maker (BU)trusts in his own making
When he fashions speechless idols.
19 Woe to him who (BV)says to a piece of wood, ‘(BW)Awake!’
To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’
And that is your teacher?
Behold, it is overlaid with (BX)gold and silver,
And there is (BY)no breath at all inside it.
20 But (BZ)Yahweh is in His holy temple.
[w]Let all the earth (CA)be silent before Him.”
Yet I Will Exalt in Yahweh
3 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to [x]Shigionoth.
2 O Yahweh, I have (CB)heard [y]the report about You, and [z]I (CC)fear.
O Yahweh, (CD)revive (CE)Your work in the midst of the years;
In the midst of the years make it known;
In rage remember (CF)compassion.
3 God comes from (CG)Teman,
And the Holy One from Mount (CH)Paran. Selah.
His (CI)splendor covers the heavens,
And the (CJ)earth is full of His praise.
4 His (CK)brightness is like the sunlight;
He has rays flashing from His hand,
And there is the hiding of His (CL)strength.
5 Before Him goes (CM)pestilence,
And (CN)plague comes [aa]after Him.
6 He stood and [ab]measured out the earth;
He looked and (CO)startled the nations.
So the perpetual mountains were shattered;
The ancient hills [ac]collapsed.
His ways are (CP)everlasting.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan under (CQ)wickedness;
The tent curtains of the land of (CR)Midian were trembling.
8 Did Yahweh’s fury burn against the (CS)rivers,
Or was Your anger against the rivers,
Or was Your wrath against the (CT)sea,
That You (CU)rode on Your horses,
On Your (CV)chariots of salvation?
9 Your (CW)bow was made bare;
Rods were sworn unto battle by word. Selah.
You (CX)split the earth with rivers.
10 The mountains saw You and writhed;
The downpour of waters passed by.
The deep (CY)gave forth its voice;
It lifted high its hands.
11 (CZ)Sun and moon stood in their lofty places;
They went away at the (DA)light of Your arrows,
At the brightness of Your flashing spear.
12 In indignation You (DB)marched through the earth;
In anger You [ad](DC)trampled the nations.
13 You went forth for the (DD)salvation of Your people,
For salvation with Your (DE)anointed.
You crushed the (DF)head of the house of the wicked
To lay him bare from [ae]thigh to neck. Selah.
14 You pierced with his (DG)own sharpened rods
The head of his [af]throngs.
They (DH)stormed in to scatter [ag]us;
Their exultation was like those
Who (DI)devour the afflicted in secret.
15 You (DJ)tread on the sea with Your horses,
On the (DK)surge of many waters.
16 I heard, and my [ah]inward parts (DL)trembled;
At the sound my lips tingled.
Decay enters my (DM)bones,
And in my place I tremble.
Because I must (DN)wait quietly for the day of distress,
[ai]For the (DO)people to arise who will invade us.
17 Though the (DP)fig tree should not blossom
And there be no produce on the vines,
Though the yield of the (DQ)olive should fail
And the fields yield no food,
Though the (DR)flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be (DS)no cattle in the stalls,
18 Yet I will (DT)exult in Yahweh;
I will (DU)rejoice in the (DV)God of my salvation.
19 Yahweh, the Lord, is my [aj](DW)strength,
And (DX)He has set my feet like hinds’ feet
And makes me tread on my (DY)high places.
[ak]For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.
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