Birth of the King in Bethlehem

1“Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops;

They have laid siege against us;

With a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.

2But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

Too little to be among the clans of Judah,

From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.

His goings forth are from long ago,

From the days of eternity.”

3Therefore He will give them up until the time

When she who is in labor has borne a child.

Then the remainder of His brethren

Will return to the sons of Israel.

4And He will arise and shepherd His flock

In the strength of the Lord,

In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.

And they will remain,

Because at that time He will be great

To the ends of the earth.

5This One will be our peace.

When the Assyrian invades our land,

When he tramples on our citadels,

Then we will raise against him

Seven shepherds and eight leaders of men.

6They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,

The land of Nimrod at its entrances;

And He will deliver us from the Assyrian

When he attacks our land

And when he tramples our territory.

7Then the remnant of Jacob

Will be among many peoples

Like dew from the Lord,

Like showers on vegetation

Which do not wait for man

Or delay for the sons of men.

8The remnant of Jacob

Will be among the nations,

Among many peoples

Like a lion among the beasts of the forest,

Like a young lion among flocks of sheep,

Which, if he passes through,

Tramples down and tears,

And there is none to rescue.

9Your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries,

And all your enemies will be cut off.

10“It will be in that day,” declares the Lord,

“That I will cut off your horses from among you

And destroy your chariots.

11I will also cut off the cities of your land

And tear down all your fortifications.

12I will cut off sorceries from your hand,

And you will have fortune-tellers no more.

13I will cut off your carved images

And your sacred pillars from among you,

So that you will no longer bow down

To the work of your hands.

14I will root out your Asherim from among you

And destroy your cities.

15And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath

On the nations which have not obeyed.”

God’s Indictment of His People

1Hear now what the Lord is saying,

“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,

And let the hills hear your voice.

2Listen, you mountains, to the indictment of the Lord,

And you enduring foundations of the earth,

Because the Lord has a case against His people;

Even with Israel He will dispute.

3My people, what have I done to you,

And how have I wearied you? Answer Me.

4Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt

And ransomed you from the house of slavery,

And I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam.

5My people, remember now

What Balak king of Moab counseled

And what Balaam son of Beor answered him,

And from Shittim to Gilgal,

So that you might know the righteous acts of the Lord.”

What God Requires of Man

6With what shall I come to the Lord

And bow myself before the God on high?

Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,

With yearling calves?

7Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams,

In ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts,

The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8He has told you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justice, to love kindness,

And to walk humbly with your God?

9The voice of the Lord will call to the city—

And it is sound wisdom to fear Your name:

“Hear, O tribe. Who has appointed its time?

10Is there yet a man in the wicked house,

Along with treasures of wickedness

And a short measure that is cursed?

11Can I justify wicked scales

And a bag of deceptive weights?

12For the rich men of the city are full of violence,

Her residents speak lies,

And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13So also I will make you sick, striking you down,

Desolating you because of your sins.

14You will eat, but you will not be satisfied,

And your vileness will be in your midst.

You will try to remove for safekeeping,

But you will not preserve anything,

And what you do preserve I will give to the sword.

15You will sow but you will not reap.

You will tread the olive but will not anoint yourself with oil;

And the grapes, but you will not drink wine.

16The statutes of Omri

And all the works of the house of Ahab are observed;

And in their devices you walk.

Therefore I will give you up for destruction

And your inhabitants for derision,

And you will bear the reproach of My people.”

The Prophet Acknowledges

1Woe is me! For I am

Like the fruit pickers, like the grape gatherers.

There is not a cluster of grapes to eat,

Or a first-ripe fig which I crave.

2The godly person has perished from the land,

And there is no upright person among men.

All of them lie in wait for bloodshed;

Each of them hunts the other with a net.

3Concerning evil, both hands do it well.

The prince asks, also the judge, for a bribe,

And a great man speaks the desire of his soul;

So they weave it together.

4The best of them is like a briar,

The most upright like a thorn hedge.

The day when you post your watchmen,

Your punishment will come.

Then their confusion will occur.

5Do not trust in a neighbor;

Do not have confidence in a friend.

From her who lies in your bosom

Guard your lips.

6For son treats father contemptuously,

Daughter rises up against her mother,

Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

A man’s enemies are the men of his own household.

God Is the Source of Salvation and Light

7But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord;

I will wait for the God of my salvation.

My God will hear me.

8Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy.

Though I fall I will rise;

Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.

9I will bear the indignation of the Lord

Because I have sinned against Him,

Until He pleads my case and executes justice for me.

He will bring me out to the light,

And I will see His righteousness.

10Then my enemy will see,

And shame will cover her who said to me,

“Where is the Lord your God?”

My eyes will look on her;

At that time she will be trampled down

Like mire of the streets.

11It will be a day for building your walls.

On that day will your boundary be extended.

12It will be a day when they will come to you

From Assyria and the cities of Egypt,

From Egypt even to the Euphrates,

Even from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.

13And the earth will become desolate because of her inhabitants,

On account of the fruit of their deeds.

14Shepherd Your people with Your scepter,

The flock of Your possession

Which dwells by itself in the woodland,

In the midst of a fruitful field.

Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead

As in the days of old.

15“As in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt,

I will show you miracles.”

16Nations will see and be ashamed

Of all their might.

They will put their hand on their mouth,

Their ears will be deaf.

17They will lick the dust like a serpent,

Like reptiles of the earth.

They will come trembling out of their fortresses;

To the Lord our God they will come in dread

And they will be afraid before You.

18Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity

And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?

He does not retain His anger forever,

Because He delights in unchanging love.

19He will again have compassion on us;

He will tread our iniquities under foot.

Yes, You will cast all their sins

Into the depths of the sea.

20You will give truth to Jacob

And unchanging love to Abraham,

Which You swore to our forefathers

From the days of old.

The Book of

NAHUM

God Is Awesome

1The oracle of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

2A jealous and avenging God is the Lord;

The Lord is avenging and wrathful.

The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries,

And He reserves wrath for His enemies.

3The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,

And the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.

In whirlwind and storm is His way,

And clouds are the dust beneath His feet.

4He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;

He dries up all the rivers.

Bashan and Carmel wither;

The blossoms of Lebanon wither.

5Mountains quake because of Him

And the hills dissolve;

Indeed the earth is upheaved by His presence,

The world and all the inhabitants in it.

6Who can stand before His indignation?

Who can endure the burning of His anger?

His wrath is poured out like fire

And the rocks are broken up by Him.

7The Lord is good,

A stronghold in the day of trouble,

And He knows those who take refuge in Him.

8But with an overflowing flood

He will make a complete end of its site,

And will pursue His enemies into darkness.

9Whatever you devise against the Lord,

He will make a complete end of it.

Distress will not rise up twice.

10Like tangled thorns,

And like those who are drunken with their drink,

They are consumed

As stubble completely withered.

11From you has gone forth

One who plotted evil against the Lord,

A wicked counselor.

12Thus says the Lord,

“Though they are at full strength and likewise many,

Even so, they will be cut off and pass away.

Though I have afflicted you,

I will afflict you no longer.

13So now, I will break his yoke bar from upon you,

And I will tear off your shackles.”

14The Lord has issued a command concerning you:

“Your name will no longer be perpetuated.

I will cut off idol and image

From the house of your gods.

I will prepare your grave,

For you are contemptible.”

15Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news,

Who announces peace!

Celebrate your feasts, O Judah;

Pay your vows.

For never again will the wicked one pass through you;

He is cut off completely.

The Overthrow of Nineveh

1The one who scatters has come up against you.

Man the fortress, watch the road;

Strengthen your back, summon all your strength.

2For the Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob

Like the splendor of Israel,

Even though devastators have devastated them

And destroyed their vine branches.

3The shields of his mighty men are colored red,

The warriors are dressed in scarlet,

The chariots are enveloped in flashing steel

When he is prepared to march,

And the cypress spears are brandished.

4The chariots race madly in the streets,

They rush wildly in the squares,

Their appearance is like torches,

They dash to and fro like lightning flashes.

5He remembers his nobles;

They stumble in their march,

They hurry to her wall,

And the mantelet is set up.

6The gates of the rivers are opened

And the palace is dissolved.

7It is fixed:

She is stripped, she is carried away,

And her handmaids are moaning like the sound of doves,

Beating on their breasts.

8Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days,

Now they are fleeing;

“Stop, stop,”

But no one turns back.

9Plunder the silver!

Plunder the gold!

For there is no limit to the treasure—

Wealth from every kind of desirable object.

10She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste!

Hearts are melting and knees knocking!

Also anguish is in the whole body

And all their faces are grown pale!

11Where is the den of the lions

And the feeding place of the young lions,

Where the lion, lioness and lion’s cub prowled,

With nothing to disturb them?

12The lion tore enough for his cubs,

Killed enough for his lionesses,

And filled his lairs with prey

And his dens with torn flesh.

13“Behold, I am against you,” declares the Lord of hosts. “I will burn up her chariots in smoke, a sword will devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the land, and no longer will the voice of your messengers be heard.”