Nahum 
  1A message about Nineveh, a vision which came to Nahum from Elkosh.
God's wrath
 2The Lord tolerates no rivals. 
The Lord is vengeful and fierce in wrath.
The Lord does not fail to punish his foes; 
the Lord is vengeful against his enemies. 
 3The Lord is slow to anger, 
great in power.
The guilty will not escape
his punishment. 

Storm tempest is his path
and cloud is the dust of his feet.
 4He rebukes the sea and dries it up
and makes all the streams run dry. 
Bashan and Carmel are languishing 
and the bloom of Lebanon is withered.

 5The mountains tremble before him 
and the hills dissolve.
The earth heaves before him, 
the world and all who live in it.

 6Who can stand before his wrath?
Who can withstand the heat of his anger?
His fierce fury pours forth like fire,
he shatters rocks.

 7The Lord is good to those who hope in him, 
a place of refuge in the day of trouble.

 8With rushing flood an end he makes 
of those who rise against him,
he drives his enemies into darkness. 

 9Why do you plot against the Lord?
He will end you.
He only takes vengeance once.

 10Thorns, tangled and drenched,
they are consumed like dry stubble.

 11Nineveh! From you has arisen
one who plots evil against the Lord,
a counsellor of wickedness.
Good news for Judah
 12The Lord says:
“Though they are many and strong,
they will pass away and be gone. 
Though I have afflicted you, 
I will afflict you no more, 
 13and now I will break his yoke from your necks 
and snap your chains.” 
 14The Lord has given this command concerning you, Nineveh:
“Your name will no longer be remembered.
I will destroy every idol and image
in the house of your God .
I will destroy even your tomb,
for you are worthless.”

 15Look! On the mountains a messenger
bringing good news,
announcing peace! 
“Celebrate the feasts, Judah, 
fulfill your vows. 
Never again will these enemies invade your land,
they are destroyed!”
Destruction of the city 
  2Nineveh! The destroyer has come up against you; 
1mount guard upon the rampart; 
watch the road; brace yourselves; 
strengthen your might to the utmost. 

 2For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob
and of Israel, 
though the devastators have plundered them
and destroyed their vines.

 3The shields of his warriors are dyed red, 
his soldiers are clothed in scarlet, 
his chariots gleam like fire 
on the day he prepares for battle
spears are shaken. 

 4Chariots rush across the fields, 
storm through the squares; 
they flame like torches, 
they dart like lightening. 

 5A leader rallies his nobles,
they hurl themselves forward.
They speed on toward the wall; 
the storming-shield is set up. 

 6The water-gates are thrown open, 
and the palace dissolves in ruins. 
 7The queen is stripped,
she is carried off.
Her maids moan like doves,
beating upon their breasts.

 8Like a pool of water is Nineveh, 
her waters fast ebbing away. 
“Stand firm! Stand firm!” someone cries, 
but no one turns back. 

 9“Loot the silver, loot the gold,
for there is no end to the treasure,
the wealth and precious things.”

 10Nineveh is empty, desolate, devastated, 
with faint heart and knocking knee. 
There is weakness in every limb, 
and faces grow pale. 

 11Where now is the den of lions? 
Where now the lair of their young? 
Where the lion used to withdraw, 
with his cubs, with none to disturb them? 

 12The lion tore enough for his cubs, 
and strangled prey for his lionesses. 
He filled his caves with the kill, 
he filled his lairs with fresh meat. 

 13“But see, I am against you,”
the Lord of hosts declares, 
“I will burn your chariots in smoke and fire. 
The sword will devour your young lions. 
You will never again prey on the land.
No more will your messengers be heard.”
Ruin
  3Woe to the bloody city! 
1Full of lies and plunder, 
without end is the spoil. 
 2Hear the crack of the whip, 
hear the rattle of wheels. 
Galloping horses, 
jolting chariots. 
 3Horsemen charging, 
swords flashing. 
spears glittering, 
a multitude of slain, 
a heap of bodies, 
no end to the corpses 
over which people stumble! 

 4“Because you acted like a whore,
bewitching the nations,
enticing the peoples,
 5I am against you, Nineveh”
the Lord of hosts declares. 
“I will strip your clothes
and show the nations your nakedness,
and the kingdoms your shame. 

 6“I will fling loathsome filth at you, 
and make you an object of contempt,
a spectacle, 
 7so that everyone who sees you 
will flee from you and say: 
‘Nineveh is laid waste,
who will mourn for her?’

 8“Are you any better than Thebes, 
which stood on the banks of the Nile, 
with waters around as a rampart, 
whose wall was the sea of waters? 
 9Her strength was Ethiopia and Egypt. 
The Libyans were her helpers, 
and Put with its countless people. 
 10Yet she was exiled 
and made captive. 
On all corners of the streets 
her infants were dashed to pieces. 
Lots were cast for her nobles, 
all her great ones were bound in chains. 

 11“You too, Nineveh, will be drunk with fear; 
you too will seek a place of escape from the foe. 
 12All your fortresses are fig-trees with the first ripe figs; 
if shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater! 
 13Your troops are weak as women before your foes; 
the gates of your land are wide open; 
your defenses burned down. 

 14“Draw water for the siege, 
strengthen your forts. 
Go to the clay pits and tread the clay; 
take up the brick moulds.
 15There the fire will consume you, 
the sword will cut you down. 

Multiply like the locust
or a swarm of grasshoppers.
 16Increase the numbers of your merchants
until they are more than the stars of heaven,
 17until your watchmen are locusts,
and your scribes like grasshoppers,
which swarm in the hedges on a cold day;
but when the sun rises
they fly away,
no one knows where.

 18“King of Assyria:
your princes slumber, 
your nobles sleep! 
Your people are scattered on the mountains 
with no one to gather them! 
 19There is no healing for your hurt,
your wound is incurable. 
All who hear of your fate clap their hands in joy,
for who has escaped your limitless cruelty?”