Nahum, 1

1. Prophecy about Nineveh. Book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

2. Yahweh is a jealous and vengeful God, Yahweh takes vengeance, he is rich in wrath; Yahweh takes vengeance on his foes, he stores up fury for his enemies.

3. Yahweh is slow to anger but great in power, Yahweh never lets evil go unpunished. In storm and whirlwind he takes his way, the clouds are the dust stirred up by his feet.

4. He rebukes the sea, dries it up, and makes all the rivers run dry. . . . Bashan and Carmel wither, the greenery of the Lebanon withers too.

5. The mountains tremble before him, the hills reel; the earth collapses before him, the world and all who live in it.

6. His fury -- who can withstand it? Who can endure his burning wrath? His anger pours out like fire and the rocks break apart before him.

7. Yahweh is better than a fortress in time of distress; he recognises those who trust in him

8. even when the flood rushes on; he will make an end once and for all of those who defy him, and pursue his foes into darkness.

9. What are your thoughts about Yahweh? He it is who makes a final end: his adversaries will not rise up a second time;

10. like a thicket of tangled brambles, like dry straw, they will be burnt up completely. To Assyria

11. From you has emerged someone plotting evil against Yahweh, one of Belial's counsellors. To Judah

12. Yahweh says this: Unopposed and many though they be, they will be cut down and pass away. Though I have made you suffer, I shall make you suffer no more,

13. for now I shall break his yoke which presses hard on you and snap your chains. To the king of Nineveh

14. As for you, this is Yahweh's decree: You will have no heirs to your name, from the temple of your gods I shall remove carved image and cast image, and I shall devastate your tomb, for you are accursed!