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1. Lord's Anger Against Nineveh

¹ A prophecy concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

The LORD’s Anger Against Nineveh

    ² The LORD is a jealous and avenging God;
   the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.
The LORD takes vengeance on his foes
   and vents his wrath against his enemies.
³ The LORD is slow to anger but great in power;
   the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
   and clouds are the dust of his feet.
⁴ He rebukes the sea and dries it up;
   he makes all the rivers run dry.
Bashan and Carmel wither
   and the blossoms of Lebanon fade.
⁵ The mountains quake before him
   and the hills melt away.
The earth trembles at his presence,
   the world and all who live in it.
⁶ Who can withstand his indignation?
   Who can endure his fierce anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire;
   the rocks are shattered before him.

    ⁷ The LORD is good,
   a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him,
    ⁸ but with an overwhelming flood
he will make an end of Nineveh;
   he will pursue his foes into the realm of darkness.

    ⁹ Whatever they plot against the LORD
   he will bring Or What do you foes plot against the LORD? / He will bring it to an end;
   trouble will not come a second time.
¹⁰ They will be entangled among thorns
   and drunk from their wine;
   they will be consumed like dry stubble. The meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.
¹¹ From you, Nineveh, has one come forth
   who plots evil against the LORD
   and devises wicked plans.

¹² This is what the LORD says:

   “Although they have allies and are numerous,
   they will be destroyed and pass away.
Although I have afflicted you, Judah,
   I will afflict you no more.
¹³ Now I will break their yoke from your neck
   and tear your shackles away.”

    ¹⁴ The LORD has given a command concerning you, Nineveh:
   “You will have no descendants to bear your name.
I will destroy the images and idols
   that are in the temple of your gods.
I will prepare your grave,
   for you are vile.”

    ¹⁵ Look, there on the mountains,
   the feet of one who brings good news,
   who proclaims peace!
Celebrate your festivals, Judah,
   and fulfill your vows.
No more will the wicked invade you;
   they will be completely destroyed. In Hebrew texts this verse (1:15) is numbered 2:1.

Nahum continues his discourse, — that God, in giving proof of his displeasure, would disturb the sea or make it dry. There may be here an allusion to the history, described by Moses; for the Prophets, in promising God’s assistance to his people, often remind them how God in a miraculous manner brought up their fathers from Egypt. As then the passage through the Red Sea was in high repute among the Jews, it may be that the Prophet alluded to that event, (Exodus 14:22.) But another view seems to me more probable. We indeed know how impetuous an element is that of the sea; and hence in Jeremiah 5, God, intending to set forth his own power, says, that it is in his power to calm the raging of the sea, than which nothing is more impetuous or more violent. In the same manner also is the majesty of God described in Job 28. The meaning of this place, I think, is the same, — that God by his chiding makes the sea dry, ²¹¹²¹¹     Literally, “chiding the sea, he even made it dry.” The ו here, though conversive, must be rendered, “even,” for the first verb is a participle. By taking the words in their poetical order, the whole verse may be thus rendered, —
   Chiding the sea, he even made it dry;
And all the rivers he dried up:
Wither did Bashan and Carmel,
And the bud of Lebanon withered.
   The verbs in this, and in the following verse, are in the past tense; reference is made to the past works of God, and in some instances to those performed in the wilderness. — Ed. and that he can dry up the rivers That the prophet connects rivers with the sea, confirms what I have just said, — that the passage through the Red Sea is not here referred to; but that the object is to show in general how great is God’s power in governing the whole world.

To the same purpose is what he adds, Bashan shall be weakened, and Carmel, and the branch of Lebanon shall be weakened, or destroyed. By these words he intimates, that there is nothing so magnificent in the world, which God changes not, when he gives proofs of his displeasure; as it is said in Psalm 104,

‘Send forth thy Spirit, and they shall be renewed;’

and again, ‘Take away thy Spirit,’ or remove it, ‘and all things will return to the dust;’ yea, into nothing. So also Nahum says in this place, “As soon as God shows his wrath, the rivers will dry up, the sea itself will become dry, and then the flowers will fade and the grass will wither;” that is, though the earth be wonderfully ornamented and replenished, yet all things will be reduced to solitude and desolation whenever God is angry. And he afterwards adds —