9 Now why do you cry out aloud?
Is there no king in you?
Has your counsellor perished,
that pains have taken hold of you as of a woman in travail?
10 Be in pain, and labour to give birth, daughter of Zion,
like a woman in travail;
for now you will go out of the city,
and will dwell in the field,
and will come even to Babylon.
There you will be rescued.
There the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.
11 Now many nations have assembled against you, that say,
“Let her be defiled,
and let our eye gloat over Zion.”
12 But they don’t know the thoughts of the LORD,
neither do they understand his counsel;
for he has gathered them like the sheaves to the threshing floor.
13 Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion,
for I will make your horn iron,
and I will make your hoofs bronze.
You will beat in pieces many peoples.
I will devote their gain to the LORD,
and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.
5
1 Now you shall gather yourself in troops,
daughter of troops.
He has laid siege against us.
They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.
2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
being small amongst the clans of Judah,
out of you one will come out to me who is to be ruler in Israel;
whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.
3 Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labour gives birth.
Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel.
4 He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
They will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.
5 He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land
and when he marches through our fortresses,
then we will raise against him seven shepherds,
and eight leaders of men.
6 They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword,
and the land of Nimrod in its gates.
He will deliver us from the Assyrian,
when he invades our land,
and when he marches within our border.
7 The remnant of Jacob will be amongst many peoples
like dew from the LORD,
like showers on the grass,
that don’t wait for man
nor wait for the sons of men.
8 The remnant of Jacob will be amongst the nations,
amongst many peoples,
like a lion amongst the animals of the forest,
like a young lion amongst the flocks of sheep;
who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces,
and there is no one to deliver.
9 Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries,
and let all of your enemies be cut off.
10 “It will happen in that day”, says the LORD,
“that I will cut off your horses from amongst you
and will destroy your chariots.
11 I will cut off the cities of your land
and will tear down all your strongholds.
12 I will destroy witchcraft from your hand.
You shall have no soothsayers.
13 I will cut off your engraved images and your pillars from amongst you;
and you shall no more worship the work of your hands.
14 I will uproot your Asherah poles from amongst you;
and I will destroy your cities.
15 I will execute vengeance in anger
and wrath on the nations that didn’t listen.”
6
1 Listen now to what the LORD says:
“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear what you have to say.
2 Hear, you mountains, the LORD’s indictment,
and you enduring foundations of the earth;
for the LORD has a case against his people,
and he will contend with Israel.
3 My people, what have I done to you?
How have I burdened you?
Answer me!
4 For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt,
and redeemed you out of the house of bondage.
I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5 My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised,
and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.”
6 How shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams?
With tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience?
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good.
What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly,
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
9 The LORD’s voice calls to the city—
and wisdom fears your name—
“Listen to the rod,
and he who appointed it.
10 Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
and a short ephah† that is accursed?
11 Shall I tolerate dishonest scales,
and a bag of deceitful weights?
12 Her rich men are full of violence,
her inhabitants speak lies,
and their tongue is deceitful in their speech.
13 Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound.
I have made you desolate because of your sins.
14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied.
Your hunger will be within you.
You will store up, but not save,
and that which you save I will give up to the sword.
15 You will sow, but won’t reap.
You will tread the olives, but won’t anoint yourself with oil;
and crush grapes, but won’t drink the wine.
16 For the statutes of Omri are kept,
and all the works of Ahab’s house.
You walk in their counsels,
that I may make you a ruin,
and your inhabitants a hissing.
You will bear the reproach of my people.”
7
1 Misery is mine!
Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard.
There is no cluster of grapes to eat.
My soul desires to eat the early fig.
2 The godly man has perished out of the earth,
and there is no one upright amongst men.
They all lie in wait for blood;
every man hunts his brother with a net.
3 Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently.
The ruler and judge ask for a bribe.
The powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul.
Thus they conspire together.
4 The best of them is like a brier.
The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge.
The day of your watchmen,
even your visitation, has come;
now is the time of their confusion.
5 Don’t trust in a neighbour.
Don’t put confidence in a friend.
With the woman lying in your embrace,
be careful of the words of your mouth!
6 For the son dishonours the father,
the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.
7 But as for me, I will look to the LORD.
I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me.
8 Don’t rejoice against me, my enemy.
When I fall, I will arise.
When I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.
9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD,
because I have sinned against him,
until he pleads my case and executes judgement for me.
He will bring me out to the light.
I will see his righteousness.
10 Then my enemy will see it,
and shame will cover her who said to me,
“Where is the LORD your God?”
My eyes will see her.
Now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets.
11 A day to build your walls!
In that day, he will extend your boundary.
12 In that day they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
and from Egypt even to the River,
and from sea to sea,
and mountain to mountain.
13 Yet the land will be desolate because of those who dwell therein,
for the fruit of their doings.
14 Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock of your heritage,
who dwell by themselves in a forest.
Let them feed in the middle of fertile pasture land,
in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
15 “As in the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt,
I will show them marvellous things.”
16 The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might.
They will lay their hand on their mouth.
Their ears will be deaf.
17 They will lick the dust like a serpent.
Like crawling things of the earth, they will come trembling out of their dens.
They will come with fear to the LORD our God,
and will be afraid because of you.
18 Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity,
and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage?
He doesn’t retain his anger forever,
because he delights in loving kindness.
19 He will again have compassion on us.
He will tread our iniquities under foot.
You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will give truth to Jacob,
and mercy to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
† 1:1: When rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, “LORD” or “GOD” is the translation of God’s Proper Name (Hebrew “יהוה”, usually pronounced Yahweh).
‡ 1:2: The word translated “Lord” is “Adonai.”
§ 1:3: “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.
† 1:10: Beth Ophrah means literally “House of Dust.”
† 3:7: The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).
† 6:10: An ephah is a measure of volume (about 22 litres or about 2/3 of a bushel), and a short ephah is made smaller than a full ephah for the purpose of cheating customers.
Nahum
The Book of Nahum
1
1 A revelation about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 2 The LORD† is a jealous God‡ and avenges. The LORD avenges and is full of wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath against his enemies. 3 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. The LORD has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and
