Amo 1:2, Nah | ESV | STEP | And he said : The Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem ; the pastures of the shepherds mourn , and the top of Carmel withers .

2 And he said:

^a“The Lord roars from Zion
and utters his voice from Jerusalem;
^bthe pastures of the shepherds mourn,
and the ^ctop of ^dCarmel withers.”

When Jonah preached repentance on the streets of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, the people responded and were spared. A century later, sometime between 663 and 612 b.c., Nahum preached in a time when Nineveh would not repent. Nineveh, which had destroyed Israel’s northern kingdom in 722, itself fell to Babylon in 612—just a few years after Nahum’s warning. The Assyrians were notorious for the brutality of their treatment of other nations. Nahum declared, however, that God is sovereign: he punishes whom he will, and they are powerless to stop him. Much of Nahum’s prophecy was directed to the people of Judah, who could rejoice at the good news (1:15) of Nineveh’s impending fall.

Nahum 1

1 ^eAn oracle concerning ^fNineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

God’s Wrath Against Nineveh

2 ^gThe Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
^hthe Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
and ⁱkeeps wrath for his enemies.
3 ^jThe Lord is slow to anger and ^kgreat in power,
and ^lthe Lord will by no means clear the guilty.
^mHis way is in whirlwind and storm,
and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
4 ⁿHe rebukes the sea and makes it dry;
he dries up all the rivers;
^oBashan and ^pCarmel wither;
the bloom of ^qLebanon withers.
5 ^rThe mountains quake before him;
^sthe hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
^tthe world and all who dwell in it.
6 ^uWho can stand before his indignation?
Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath ^vis poured out like fire,
and ^wthe rocks are broken into pieces by him.
7 ^xThe Lord is good,
^ya stronghold in the day of trouble;
^zhe knows those who take refuge in him.
8 But ^aawith an overflowing flood
he will make a complete end of the adversaries, ^{▼▼Hebrew of her place}
and ^acwill pursue his enemies into darkness.
9 What ^addo you plot against the Lord?
^aeHe will make a complete end;
trouble will not rise up a second time.
10 For they are ^aflike entangled thorns,
like drunkards as they drink;
^agthey are consumed like stubble fully dried.
11 From you came one
^ahwho plotted evil against the Lord,
a worthless counselor.
12 Thus says the Lord,
“Though they are at full strength and many,
^aithey will be cut down and pass away.
^ajThough I have afflicted you,
I will afflict you no more.
13 And now ^akI will break his yoke from off you
and will burst your bonds apart.”
14 The Lord has given commandment about you:
^al“No more shall your name be perpetuated;
from ^amthe house of your gods I will cut off
the carved image and the metal image.
^anI will make your grave, ^aofor you are vile.”
15 ^{▼▼Ch 2:1 in Hebrew} ^aqBehold, upon the mountains, ^arthe feet of him
who brings good news,
who publishes peace!
^asKeep your feasts, O Judah;
^atfulfill your vows,
^aufor never again shall the worthless pass through you;
he is utterly cut off.

Nahum 2

The Destruction of Nineveh

1 ^avThe scatterer has come up against you.
^awMan the ramparts;
watch the road;
dress for battle; ^{▼▼Hebrew gird your loins}
collect all your strength.
2 For ^aythe Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob
as the majesty of Israel,
for plunderers have plundered them
and ^azruined their branches.
3 The shield of his mighty men is red;
^bahis soldiers are clothed in scarlet.
The chariots come with flashing metal
on the day he musters them;
the cypress spears are brandished.
4 ^bbThe chariots race madly through the streets;
they rush to and fro through the squares;
they gleam like torches;
they dart like lightning.
5 He remembers ^bchis officers;
^bdthey stumble as they go,
they hasten to the wall;
the siege tower ^{▼▼Or the mantelet} is set up.
6 ^bfThe river gates are opened;
the palace ^bgmelts away;
7 its mistress ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew word rendered its mistress is uncertain} is ^bistripped; ^{▼▼Or exiled} she is carried off,
her slave girls ^bklamenting,
moaning like doves
and beating their breasts.
8 ^blNineveh is like a pool
whose waters run away. ^{▼▼Compare Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain}
“Halt! Halt!” they cry,
but ^bnnone turns back.
9 Plunder the silver,
plunder the gold!
There is no end of the treasure
or of the wealth of all precious things.
10 ^boDesolate! Desolation and ruin!
^bpHearts melt and ^bqknees tremble;
^branguish is in all loins;
^bsall faces grow pale!
11 Where is the lions’ den,
the feeding place of ^btthe young lions,
where the lion and lioness went,
where his cubs were, with ^bunone to disturb?
12 ^bvThe lion tore enough for his cubs
and ^bwstrangled prey for his lionesses;
he filled his caves with prey
and his dens with torn flesh.
13 ^bxBehold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and ^byI will burn your ^{▼▼Hebrew her} chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and ^cathe voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.

Nahum 3

Woe to Nineveh

1 Woe to ^cbthe bloody city,
all full of lies and plunder—
^ccno end to the prey!
2 The crack of the whip, and ^cdrumble of the wheel,
^cegalloping horse and ^cfbounding chariot!
3 Horsemen charging,
flashing sword and ^cgglittering spear,
^chhosts of slain,
heaps of corpses,
dead bodies without end—
they stumble over the bodies!
4 And all for the countless whorings of the ^ciprostitute,
^cjgraceful and of deadly charms,
who betrays nations with her whorings,
and peoples with her charms.
5 ^ckBehold, I am against you,
declares the Lord of hosts,
and ^clwill lift up your skirts over your face;
and I will make nations look at ^cmyour nakedness
and kingdoms at your shame.
6 I will throw filth at you
and ^cntreat you with contempt
and make you ^coa spectacle.
7 And all who look at you ^cpwill shrink from you and say,
“Wasted is ^cqNineveh; ^crwho will grieve for her?”
^csWhere shall I seek comforters for you?
8 ^ctAre you better than ^cuThebes ^{▼▼Hebrew No-amon}
that sat ^cwby the Nile,
with water around her,
her rampart a sea,
and water her wall?
9 ^cxCush was her strength;
Egypt too, and that without limit;
^cyPut and the ^czLibyans were her ^{▼▼Hebrew your} helpers.
10 ^dbYet she became an exile;
she went into captivity;
^dcher infants were dashed in pieces
at the head of every street;
for her honored men ^ddlots were cast,
^deand all her great men were bound in chains.
11 ^dfYou also will be drunken;
you will go into hiding;
^dgyou will seek a refuge from the enemy.
12 All your fortresses are ^dhlike fig trees
with first-ripe figs—
if shaken they fall
into the mouth of the eater.
13 Behold, your troops
^diare women in your midst.
The gates of your land
are wide open to your enemies;
fire has devoured your bars.
14 ^djDraw water for the siege;
^dkstrengthen your forts;
go into the clay;
tread the mortar;
take hold of the brick mold!
15 There will the fire devour you;
the sword will cut you off.
It will ^dldevour you ^dmlike the locust.
Multiply yourselves ^dnlike the locust;
multiply ^dolike the grasshopper!
16 You increased ^dpyour merchants
more than the stars of the heavens.
^dqThe locust spreads its wings and flies away.
17 Your ^drprinces are ^dslike grasshoppers,
^dtyour scribes ^{▼▼Or marshals} like clouds of locusts
settling on the fences
in a day of cold—
when the sun rises, they fly away;
no one knows where they are.
18 Your shepherds ^dvare asleep,
O king of Assyria;
^dwyour nobles slumber.
Your people ^dxare scattered on the mountains
with none to gather them.
19 There is no easing your hurt;
^dyyour wound is grievous.
All who hear the news about you
^dzclap their hands over you.
For ^eaupon whom has not come
your unceasing evil?