Nahum 1; Nahum 2; Nahum 3; Habakkuk 1; Habakkuk 2; Habakkuk 3

1 This is a message about Nineveh, the account of a vision seen by Nahum, who was from Elkosh.

2 The Lord God tolerates no rivals; he punishes those who oppose him. In his anger he pays them back.

3 The Lord does not easily become angry, but he is powerful and never lets the guilty go unpunished. Where the Lord walks, storms arise; the clouds are the dust raised by his feet!

4 He commands the sea, and it dries up! He makes the rivers go dry. The fields of Bashan wither, Mount Carmel turns brown, and the flowers of Lebanon fade.

5 Mountains quake in the presence of the Lord; hills melt before him. The earth shakes when the Lord appears; the world and all its people tremble.

6 When he is angry, who can survive? Who can survive his terrible fury? He pours out his flaming anger; rocks crumble to dust before him.

7 The Lord is good; he protects his people in times of trouble; he takes care of those who turn to him.

8 Like a great rushing flood he completely destroys his enemies; he sends to their death those who oppose him.

9 What are you plotting against the Lord? He will destroy you. No one opposes him more than once.

10 Like tangled thorns and dry straw you drunkards will be burned up!

11 From you, Nineveh, there came someone full of wicked schemes, who plotted against the Lord.

12 This is what the Lord says to his people Israel: "Even though the Assyrians are strong and numerous, they will be destroyed and disappear. My people, I made you suffer, but I will not do it again.

13 I will now end Assyria's power over you and break the chains that bind you."

14 This is what the Lord has decreed about the Assyrians: "They will have no descendants to carry on their name. I will destroy the idols that are in the temples of their gods. I am preparing a grave for the Assyrians - they don't deserve to live!"

15 Look, a messenger is coming over the mountains with good news! He is on his way to announce the victory! People of Judah, celebrate your festivals and give God what you solemnly promised him. The wicked will never invade your land again. They have been totally destroyed!

1 Nineveh, you are under attack! The power that will shatter you has come. Prepare the defenses! Guard the road! Prepare for battle

2 (The Lord is about to restore the glory of Israel, as it was before her enemies plundered her.)

3 The enemy soldiers carry red shields and wear uniforms of red. They are preparing to attack! Their chariots flash like fire! Their horses prance!

4 Chariots dash wildly through the streets, rushing back and forth in the city squares. They flash like torches and dart about like lightning.

5 The officers are summoned; they stumble as they press forward. The attackers rush to the wall and set up the shield for the battering ram.

6 The gates by the river burst open; the palace is filled with terror.

7 The queen is taken captive; her servants moan like doves and beat their breasts in sorrow.

8 Like water from a broken dam the people rush from Nineveh! "Stop! Stop!" the cry rings out - but no one turns back.

9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The city is full of treasure!

10 Nineveh is destroyed, deserted, desolate! Hearts melt with fear; knees tremble, strength is gone; faces grow pale.

11 Where now is the city that was like a den of lions, the place where young lions were fed, where the lion and the lioness would go and their cubs would be safe?

12 The lion killed his prey and tore it to pieces for his mate and her cubs; he filled his den with torn flesh.

13 "I am your enemy!" says the Lord Almighty. "I will burn up your chariots. Your soldiers will be killed in war, and I will take away everything that you took from others. The demands of your envoys will no longer be heard."

1 Doomed is the lying, murderous city, full of wealth to be looted and plundered!

2 Listen! The crack of the whip, the rattle of wheels, the gallop of horses, the jolting of chariots!

3 Cavalry troops charge, swords flash, spears gleam! Corpses are piled high, dead bodies without number - men stumble over them!

4 Nineveh the whore is being punished. Attractive and full of deadly charms, she enchanted nations and enslaved them.

5 The Lord Almighty says, "I will punish you, Nineveh! I will strip you naked and let the nations see you, see you in all your shame.

6 I will treat you with contempt and cover you with filth. People will stare at you in horror.

7 All who see you will shrink back. They will say, "Nineveh lies in ruins! Who has any sympathy for her? Who will want to comfort her?' "

8 Nineveh, are you any better than Thebes, the capital of Egypt? She too had a river to protect her like a wall - the Nile was her defense.

9 She ruled Ethiopia and Egypt, there was no limit to her power; Libya was her ally.

10 Yet the people of Thebes were carried off into exile. At every street corner their children were beaten to death. Their leading men were carried off in chains and divided among their captors.

11 Nineveh, you too will fall into a drunken stupor! You too will try to escape from your enemies.

12 All your fortresses will be like fig trees with ripe figs: shake the trees, and the fruit falls right into your mouth!

13 Your soldiers are helpless, and your country stands defenseless before your enemies. Fire will destroy the bars across your gates.

14 Draw water to prepare for a siege, and strengthen your fortresses! Trample the clay to make bricks, and get the brick molds ready!

15 No matter what you do, you will still be burned to death or killed in battle. You will be wiped out like crops eaten up by locusts. You multiplied like locusts!

16 You produced more merchants than there are stars in the sky! But now they are gone, like locusts that spread their wings and fly away.

17 Your officials are like a swarm of locusts that stay in the walls on a cold day. But when the sun comes out, they fly away, and no one knows where they have gone!

18 Emperor of Assyria, your governors are dead, and your noblemen are asleep forever! Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to bring them home again.

19 There is no remedy for your injuries, and your wounds cannot be healed. All those who hear the news of your destruction clap their hands for joy. Did anyone escape your endless cruelty?

1 This is the message that the Lord revealed to the prophet Habakkuk.

2 O Lord, how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence?

3 Why do you make me see such trouble? How can you stand to look on such wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are all around me, and there is fighting and quarreling everywhere.

4 The law is weak and useless, and justice is never done. Evil people get the better of the righteous, and so justice is perverted.

5 Then the Lord said to his people, "Keep watching the nations around you, and you will be astonished at what you see. I am going to do something that you will not believe when you hear about it.

6 I am bringing the Babylonians to power, those fierce, restless people. They are marching out across the world to conquer other lands.

7 They spread fear and terror, and in their pride they are a law to themselves.

8 "Their horses are faster than leopards, fiercer than hungry wolves. Their cavalry troops come riding from distant lands; their horses paw the ground. They come swooping down like eagles attacking their prey.

9 "Their armies advance in violent conquest, and everyone is terrified as they approach. Their captives are as numerous as grains of sand.

10 They treat kings with contempt and laugh at high officials. No fortress can stop them - they pile up earth against it and capture it.

11 Then they sweep on like the wind and are gone, these men whose power is their god."

12 Lord, from the very beginning you are God. You are my God, holy and eternal. Lord, my God and protector, you have chosen the Babylonians and made them strong so that they can punish us.

13 But how can you stand these treacherous, evil men? Your eyes are too holy to look at evil, and you cannot stand the sight of people doing wrong. So why are you silent while they destroy people who are more righteous than they are?

14 How can you treat people like fish or like a swarm of insects that have no ruler to direct them?

15 The Babylonians catch people with hooks, as though they were fish. They drag them off in nets and shout for joy over their catch!

16 They even worship their nets and offer sacrifices to them, because their nets provide them with the best of everything.

17 Are they going to use their swords forever and keep on destroying nations without mercy?

1 I will climb my watchtower and wait to see what the Lord will tell me to say and what answer he will give to my complaint.

2 The Lord gave me this answer: "Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance.

3 Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed.

4 And this is the message: "Those who are evil will not survive, but those who are righteous will live because they are faithful to God.' "

5 Wealth is deceitful. Greedy people are proud and restless - like death itself they are never satisfied. That is why they conquer nation after nation for themselves.

6 The conquered people will taunt their conquerors and show their scorn for them. They will say, "You take what isn't yours, but you are doomed! How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?"

7 But before you know it, you that have conquered others will be in debt yourselves and be forced to pay interest. Enemies will come and make you tremble. They will plunder you!

8 You have plundered the people of many nations, but now those who have survived will plunder you because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.

9 You are doomed! You have made your family rich with what you took by violence, and have tried to make your own home safe from harm and danger!

10 But your schemes have brought shame on your family; by destroying many nations you have only brought ruin on yourself.

11 Even the stones of the walls cry out against you, and the rafters echo the cry.

12 You are doomed! You founded a city on crime and built it up by murder.

13 The nations you conquered wore themselves out in useless labor, and all they have built goes up in flames. The Lord Almighty has done this.

14 But the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord's glory as the seas are full of water.

15 You are doomed! In your fury you humiliated and disgraced your neighbors; you made them stagger as though they were drunk.

16 You in turn will be covered with shame instead of honor. You yourself will drink and stagger. The Lord will make you drink your own cup of punishment, and your honor will be turned to disgrace.

17 You have cut down the forests of Lebanon; now you will be cut down. You killed its animals; now animals will terrify you. This will happen because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.

18 What's the use of an idol? It is only something that a human being has made, and it tells you nothing but lies. What good does it do for its maker to trust it - a god that can't even talk!

19 You are doomed! You say to a piece of wood, "Wake up!" or to a block of stone, "Get up!" Can an idol reveal anything to you? It may be covered with silver and gold, but there is no life in it.

20 The Lord is in his holy Temple; let everyone on earth be silent in his presence.

1 This is a prayer of the prophet Habakkuk:

2 O Lord, I have heard of what you have done, and I am filled with awe. Now do again in our times the great deeds you used to do. Be merciful, even when you are angry.

3 God is coming again from Edom; the holy God is coming from the hills of Paran. His splendor covers the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise.

4 He comes with the brightness of lightning; light flashes from his hand, there where his power is hidden.

5 He sends disease before him and commands death to follow him.

6 When he stops, the earth shakes; at his glance the nations tremble. The eternal mountains are shattered; the everlasting hills sink down, the hills where he walked in ancient times.

7 I saw the people of Cushan afraid and the people of Midian tremble.

8 Was it the rivers that made you angry, Lord? Was it the sea that made you furious? You rode upon the clouds; the storm cloud was your chariot, as you brought victory to your people.

9 You got ready to use your bow, ready to shoot your arrows. Your lightning split open the earth.

10 When the mountains saw you, they trembled; water poured down from the skies. The waters under the earth roared, and their waves rose high.

11 At the flash of your speeding arrows and the gleam of your shining spear, the sun and the moon stood still.

12 You marched across the earth in anger; in fury you trampled the nations.

13 You went out to save your people, to save your chosen king. You struck down the leader of the wicked and completely destroyed his followers.

14 Your arrows pierced the commander of his army when it came like a storm to scatter us, gloating like those who secretly oppress the poor.

15 You trampled the sea with your horses, and the mighty waters foamed.

16 I hear all this, and I tremble; my lips quiver with fear. My body goes limp, and my feet stumble beneath me. I will quietly wait for the time to come when God will punish those who attack us.

17 Even though the fig trees have no fruit and no grapes grow on the vines, even though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no grain, even though the sheep all die and the cattle stalls are empty,

18 I will still be joyful and glad, because the Lord God is my savior.

19 The Sovereign Lord gives me strength. He makes me sure-footed as a deer and keeps me safe on the mountains.