|
The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the
Elkoshite.
God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and
is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries,
and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.
The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at
all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind
and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the
rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of
Lebanon languisheth.
The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth
is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell
therein.
Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the
fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and
the rocks are thrown down by him.
The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he
knoweth them that trust in him.
But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the
place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end:
affliction shall not rise up the second time.
For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are
drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully
dry.
There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the
LORD, a wicked counsellor.
Thus saith the LORD; Though they be quiet, and likewise many,
yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through.
Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.
For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy
bonds in sunder.
And the LORD hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no
more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I
cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy
grave; for thou art vile.
Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good
tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn
feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass
through thee; he is utterly cut off.
He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the
munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy
power mightily.
For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the
excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out,
and marred their vine branches.
The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are
in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the
day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly
shaken.
The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one
against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like
torches, they shall run like the lightnings.
He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their
walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the
defence shall be prepared.
The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall
be dissolved.
And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up,
and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves,
tabering upon their breasts.
But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee
away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.
Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there
is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant
furniture.
She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and
the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and
the faces of them all gather blackness.
Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace of the
young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the
lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?
The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and
strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey,
and his dens with ravin.
Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will
burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy
young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and
the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.
Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the
prey departeth not;
The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the
wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping
chariots.
The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the
glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a
great number of carcases; and there is none end of their
corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:
Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured
harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations
through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.
Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will
discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations
thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile,
and will set thee as a gazingstock.
And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee
shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will
bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the
rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was
the sea, and her wall was from the sea?
Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put
and Lubim were thy helpers.
Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young
children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the
streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her
great men were bound in chains.
Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt
seek strength because of the enemy.
All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe
figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of
the eater.
Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of
thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire
shall devour thy bars.
Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go
into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.
There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off,
it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as
the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.
Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven:
the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.
Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great
grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but
when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not
known where they are.
Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall
dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains,
and no man gathereth them.
There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all
that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for
upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
|
