Nahum 1–3; Psalm 37

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Nahum 1–3

aAn oracle concerning bNineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

God’s Wrath Against Nineveh

cThe Lord is a jealous and avenging God;

the Lord is avenging and wrathful;

dthe Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries

and ekeeps wrath for his enemies.

fThe Lord is slow to anger and ggreat in power,

and hthe Lord will by no means clear the guilty.

iHis way is in whirlwind and storm,

and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

jHe rebukes the sea and makes it dry;

he dries up all the rivers;

kBashan and lCarmel wither;

the bloom of kLebanon withers.

mThe mountains quake before him;

nthe hills melt;

the earth heaves before him,

othe world and all who dwell in it.

pWho can stand before his indignation?

Who can endure the heat of his anger?

His wrath qis poured out like fire,

and rthe rocks are broken into pieces by him.

sThe Lord is good,

ta stronghold in the day of trouble;

uhe knows those who take refuge in him.

But vwith an overflowing flood

he will make a complete end of the adversaries,1

and wwill pursue his enemies into darkness.

What xdo you plot against the Lord?

yHe will make a complete end;

trouble will not rise up a second time.

10  For they are zlike entangled thorns,

like drunkards as they drink;

athey are consumed like stubble fully dried.

11  From you came one

bwho plotted evil against the Lord,

a worthless counselor.

12  Thus says the Lord,

Though they are at full strength and many,

cthey will be cut down and pass away.

dThough I have afflicted you,

I will afflict you no more.

13  And now eI will break his yoke from off you

and will burst your bonds apart.

14  The Lord has given commandment about you:

fNo more shall your name be perpetuated;

from gthe house of your gods I will cut off

the carved image and the metal image.

hI will make your grave, ifor you are vile.

15  2 jBehold, upon the mountains, kthe feet of him

who brings good news,

who publishes peace!

lKeep your feasts, O Judah;

mfulfill your vows,

nfor never again shall the worthless pass through you;

he is utterly cut off.

The Destruction of Nineveh

oThe scatterer has come up against you.

pMan the ramparts;

watch the road;

dress for battle;3

collect all your strength.

For qthe Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob

as the majesty of Israel,

for plunderers have plundered them

and rruined their branches.

The shield of his mighty men is red;

shis soldiers are clothed in scarlet.

The chariots come with flashing metal

on the day he musters them;

the cypress spears are brandished.

tThe chariots race madly through the streets;

they rush to and fro through the squares;

they gleam like torches;

they dart like lightning.

He remembers uhis officers;

vthey stumble as they go,

they hasten to the wall;

the siege tower4 is set up.

wThe river gates are opened;

the palace xmelts away;

its mistress5 is ystripped;6 she is carried off,

her slave girls zlamenting,

moaning like doves

and beating their breasts.

bNineveh is like a pool

whose waters run away.7

Halt! Halt! they cry,

but cnone turns back.

Plunder the silver,

plunder the gold!

There is no end of the treasure

or of the wealth of all precious things.

10  dDesolate! Desolation and ruin!

eHearts melt and fknees tremble;

ganguish is in all loins;

hall faces grow pale!

11  Where is the lions’ den,

the feeding place of ithe young lions,

where the lion and lioness went,

where his cubs were, with jnone to disturb?

12  kThe lion tore enough for his cubs

and lstrangled prey for his lionesses;

he filled his caves with prey

and his dens with torn flesh.

13 mBehold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and nI will burn your8 chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and othe voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.

Woe to Nineveh

Woe to pthe bloody city,

all full of lies and plunder

qno end to the prey!

The crack of the whip, and rrumble of the wheel,

sgalloping horse and tbounding chariot!

Horsemen charging,

flashing sword and uglittering spear,

vhosts of slain,

heaps of corpses,

dead bodies without end

they stumble over the bodies!

And all for the countless whorings of the wprostitute,

xgraceful and of deadly charms,

who betrays nations with her whorings,

and peoples with her charms.

mBehold, I am against you,

declares the Lord of hosts,

and ywill lift up your skirts over your face;

and I will make nations look at zyour nakedness

and kingdoms at your shame.

I will throw filth at you

and atreat you with contempt

and make you ba spectacle.

And all who look at you cwill shrink from you and say,

Wasted is dNineveh; ewho will grieve for her?

fWhere shall I seek comforters for you?

gAre you better than hThebes9

that sat iby the Nile,

with water around her,

her rampart a sea,

and water her wall?

jCush was her strength;

Egypt too, and that without limit;

kPut and the lLibyans were her10 helpers.

10  mYet she became an exile;

she went into captivity;

nher infants were dashed in pieces

at the head of every street;

for her honored men olots were cast,

pand all her great men were bound in chains.

11  qYou also will be drunken;

you will go into hiding;

ryou will seek a refuge from the enemy.

12  All your fortresses are slike fig trees

with first-ripe figs

if shaken they fall

into the mouth of the eater.

13  Behold, your troops

tare women in your midst.

The gates of your land

are wide open to your enemies;

fire has devoured your bars.

14  uDraw water for the siege;

rstrengthen 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 vdevour you wlike the locust.

Multiply yourselves wlike the locust;

multiply wlike the grasshopper!

16  You increased xyour merchants

more than the stars of the heavens.

wThe locust spreads its wings and flies away.

17  Your zprinces are wlike grasshoppers,

ayour scribes11 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 bare asleep,

O king of Assyria;

cyour nobles slumber.

Your people dare scattered on the mountains

with none to gather them.

19  There is no easing your hurt;

eyour wound is grievous.

All who hear the news about you

fclap their hands over you.

For gupon whom has not come

your unceasing evil?


Psalm 37

He Will Not Forsake His Saints

1 Of David.

uFret not yourself because of evildoers;

be not venvious of wrongdoers!

For they will soon wfade like xthe grass

and wither ylike the green herb.

zTrust in the Lord, and do good;

adwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.2

bDelight yourself in the Lord,

and he will cgive you the desires of your heart.

dCommit your way to the Lord;

ztrust in him, and he will act.

eHe will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

and your justice as fthe noonday.

gBe still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;

hfret not yourself over the one who iprospers in his way,

over the man who carries out evil devices!

jRefrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

hFret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

kFor the evildoers shall be cut off,

but those who wait for the Lord shall linherit the land.

10  In mjust a little while, the wicked will be no more;

though you look carefully at nhis place, he will not be there.

11  But othe meek shall inherit the land

and delight themselves in pabundant peace.

12  The wicked qplots against the righteous

and rgnashes his teeth at him,

13  but the Lord slaughs at the wicked,

for he sees that his tday is coming.

14  The wicked draw the sword and ubend their bows

to bring down the poor and needy,

to slay those whose vway is upright;

15  their sword shall enter their own heart,

and their wbows shall be broken.

16  xBetter is the little that the righteous has

than the abundance of many wicked.

17  For ythe arms of the wicked shall be broken,

but the Lord zupholds the righteous.

18  The Lord aknows the days of the blameless,

and their bheritage will remain forever;

19  they are not put to shame in evil times;

in cthe days of famine they have abundance.

20  But the wicked will perish;

the enemies of the Lord are like dthe glory of the pastures;

they vanishlike esmoke they vanish away.

21  The wicked borrows but does not pay back,

but the righteous fis generous and gives;

22  for those blessed by the Lord3 shall ginherit the land,

but those cursed by him hshall be cut off.

23  The isteps of a man are jestablished by the Lord,

when he delights in his way;

24  kthough he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,

for the Lord lupholds his hand.

25  I have been young, and now am old,

yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken

or his children mbegging for bread.

26  He is ever nlending generously,

and his children become a blessing.

27  oTurn away from evil and do good;

so shall you pdwell forever.

28  For the Lord qloves justice;

he will not forsake his rsaints.

They are preserved forever,

but the children of the wicked shall be scut off.

29  The righteous shall inherit the land

and pdwell upon it forever.

30  The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,

and his tongue speaks justice.

31  tThe law of his God is in his heart;

his usteps do not slip.

32  The wicked vwatches for the righteous

and seeks to put him to death.

33  The Lord will not wabandon him to his power

or let him xbe condemned when he is brought to trial.

34  yWait for the Lord and keep his way,

and he will exalt you to inherit the land;

you will look on zwhen the wicked are cut off.

35  aI have seen a wicked, ruthless man,

spreading himself like ba green laurel tree.4

36  But he passed away,5 and behold, che was no more;

though I sought him, he could not be found.

37  Mark the blameless and behold the upright,

for there is a future for the man of dpeace.

38  But etransgressors shall be altogether destroyed;

the future of the wicked fshall be cut off.

39  gThe salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;

he is their stronghold in hthe time of trouble.

40  The Lord helps them and idelivers them;

jhe delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

because they ktake refuge in him.