Nahum 1; Nahum 2; Nahum 3; Revelation 14

1 An oracle about Nineveh: the scroll containing the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

2 The LORD is a jealous and vengeful God; the LORD is vengeful and strong in wrath. The LORD is vengeful against his foes; he rages against his enemies.

3 The LORD is very patient but great in power; the LORD punishes. His way is in whirlwind and storm; clouds are the dust of his feet.

4 He can blast the sea and make it dry up; he can dry up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither; the bud of Lebanon withers.

5 The mountains quake because of him; the hills melt away. The earth heaves before him— the world and all who dwell in it.

6 Who can stand before his indignation? Who can confront the heat of his fury? His wrath pours out like fire; the rocks are shattered because of him.

7 The LORD is good, a haven in a day of distress. He acknowledges those who take refuge in him.

8 With a rushing flood, he will utterly destroy her place and pursue his enemies into darkness.

9 What are you plotting against the LORD? He is one who can annihilate! Distress will not arise twice.

10 They are tangled up like thorns, like drunkards in their cups. They are consumed like stubble that is entirely dried up.

11 From you goes out one who plots evil against the LORD— a worthless counselor!

12 The LORD proclaims: Though once they were a healthy and numerous force, they have been cut off and have disappeared. I have afflicted you; I won't afflict you further, Zion.

13 Now I will break off his yoke from you and tear off your chains.

14 The LORD has commanded concerning you: You will have no children to carry on your name. I will remove carved idol and cast image from the house of your gods; I will make your grave, for you are worthless.

15 Look, on the mountains: the feet of a messenger who announces peace! Celebrate your festivals, Judah! Fulfill your solemn promises! The worthless one will never again invade you; he has been completely cut off.

1 A scatterer has come up against you. Guard the ramparts, watch the road, protect your groin, save your strength!

2 The LORD will restore the pride of Jacob, indeed, the pride of Israel, because ravagers have destroyed them and spoiled their branches.

3 The shields of his warriors are red; his soldiers are dressed in crimson. The ironwork of the chariots flashes like fire on the day he has prepared; the horses quiver.

4 The chariots race wildly through the streets; they rush back and forth through the squares. They look like flaming torches; they dart like bolts of lightning.

5 He musters his officers; they stumble as they press forward. They hurry to the city wall, and the portable shield is set up.

6 The gates of the rivers are opened; the palace melts.

7 It is decreed: She is sent into exile, carried away, while her female servants moan like doves, beating their breasts.

8 Nineveh has been like a pool of water. Such are its waters, and others are fleeing. "Stop, stop!"—but no one can turn them back.

9 Plunder silver! Plunder gold! There is no end to the supplies, an abundance of precious objects!

10 Destruction and devastation; the city is laid waste! The heart grows faint and knees buckle; there is anguish in every groin; all the faces grow pale.

11 Where is the lions' den, the meadow of the young lions, where lion, lioness, even lion cub go about with no one to terrify them?

12 The lion has torn enough prey for his cubs and strangled enough for his lionesses; he has filled his lairs with prey, his dens with torn flesh.

13 Look! I am against you, proclaims the LORD of heavenly forces. I will burn your chariots in smoke; the sword will devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the earth, the voice of your messengers will never again be heard!

1 Doom, city of bloodshed—all deceit, full of plunder: prey cannot get away.

2 Cracking whip and rumbling wheel, galloping horse and careening chariot!

3 Charging cavalry, flashing sword, and glittering spear; countless slain, masses of corpses, endless dead bodies—they stumble over their dead bodies!

4 Because of the many whorings of the whore, the lovely graces of the mistress of sorceries, the one who sells nations by means of her whorings and peoples by means of her sorceries:

5 Look! I am against you, proclaims the LORD of heavenly forces. I will lift your skirts over your face; I will show nations your nakedness and kingdoms your dishonor.

6 I will throw disgusting things at you; I will treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle.

7 Then all who look at you will recoil from you and say, "Nineveh has been devastated! Who will lament for her?" Where could I possibly seek comforters for you?

8 Are you better than Thebes, situated by the Nile, waters surrounding her, whose fortress is sea and whose city wall is waters?

9 Cush and Egypt constituted her strength, without limit; Put and the Libyans were her help.

10 Yet even she was destined for exile; she went into captivity. Indeed, her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her officials; all of her powerful citizens were bound in chains.

11 Yes, even you will become drunk; you will have to hide! Even you will have to seek refuge from the enemy!

12 All your fortifications are fig trees with ripe fruit; when the trees are shaken, the fruit falls into the mouth of the eater.

13 Look, your people are women in your midst. The gates of your land have been flung wide open to your enemies. Fire consumes the bars of your gates.

14 Draw water for yourself to prepare for siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Tread the clay, trample the mortar, grab the brick mold!

15 Fire will consume you there; the sword will cut you down; like the locust it will consume you. Multiply like the locust; multiply like the grasshopper!

16 You boasted more traders than the heavens have stars. The locust sheds its skin and flies away.

17 Your guards are like grasshoppers, your marshals like swarms of cicadas that encamp on stone fences on a chilly day; when the sun rises, they take flight; no one knows where they have gone.

18 Your shepherds have fallen asleep, king of Assyria! Your officials are lying down. Your people are scattered across the mountains; there is no one to gather them.

19 There is no remedy for your injury; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you. Who has not suffered from your continual cruelty?

1 Then I looked, and there was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion. With him were one hundred forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.

2 I heard a sound from heaven that was like the sound of rushing water and loud thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps.

3 They sing a new song in front of the throne, the four living creatures, and the elders. And no one could learn the song except the one hundred forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth.

4 They weren't defiled with women, for these people who follow the Lamb wherever he goes are virgins. They were purchased from among humankind as early produce for God and the Lamb.

5 No lie came from their mouths; they are blameless.

6 Then I saw another angel flying high overhead with eternal good news to proclaim to those who live on earth, and to every nation, tribe, language, and people.

7 He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come. Worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water."

8 Another angel, a second one, followed and said, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She made all the nations drink the wine of her lustful passion."

9 Then another angel, a third one, followed them and said in a loud voice, "If any worship the beast and its image, and receive a mark on their foreheads or their hands,

10 they themselves will also drink the wine of God's passionate anger, poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will suffer the pain of fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb.

11 The smoke of their painful suffering goes up forever and always. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, and those who receive the mark of its name."

12 This calls for the endurance of the saints, who keep God's commandments and keep faith with Jesus.

13 And I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write this: Favored are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "so they can rest from their labors, because their deeds follow them."

14 Then I looked, and there was a white cloud. On the cloud was seated someone who looked like the Human One. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

15 Another angel came out of the temple, calling in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud: "Use your sickle to reap the harvest, for the time to harvest has come, and the harvest of the earth is ripe."

16 So the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.

18 Still another angel, who has power over fire, came out from the altar. He said in a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, "Use your sharp sickle to cut the clusters in the vineyard of the earth, because its grapes are ripe."

19 So the angel swung his sickle into the earth, and cut the vineyard of the earth, and he put what he reaped into the great winepress of God's passionate anger.

20 Then the winepress was trampled outside the city, and the blood came out of the winepress as high as the horses' bridles for almost two hundred miles.