Micah 7; Nahum 1-3

1Woe is me! For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave.

2The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.

3Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.

4The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper than a hedge of thorns. The day for your watchmen has come, the day of your visitation. Now is the time of their confusion.

5Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.

6For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies are the members of his own household.

7But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

8Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.

9Because I have sinned against Him, I must endure the rage of the LORD, until He argues my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see His righteousness.

10Then my enemy will see and will be covered with shame— she who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will see her; at that time she will be trampled like mud in the streets.

11The day for rebuilding your walls will come— the day for extending your boundary.

12On that day they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, even from Egypt to the Euphrates, from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.

13Then the earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the fruit of their deeds.

14Shepherd with Your staff Your people, the flock of Your inheritance. They live alone in a woodland, surrounded by pastures. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

15As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show My wonders.

16Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their might. They will put their hands over their mouths, and their ears will become deaf.

17They will lick the dust like a snake, like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will come trembling from their strongholds in the presence of the LORD our God; they will tremble in fear of You.

18Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance— who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?

19He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.

20You will show faithfulness to Jacob and loving devotion to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from the days of old.

1This is the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:

2The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and full of wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on His foes and reserves wrath for His enemies.

3The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. His path is in the whirlwind and storm, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.

4He rebukes the sea and dries it up; He makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts.

5The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence— the world and all its dwellers.

6Who can withstand His indignation? Who can endure His burning anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; even rocks are shattered before Him.

7The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of distress; He cares for those who trust in Him.

8But with an overwhelming flood He will make an end of Nineveh and pursue His enemies into darkness.

9Whatever you plot against the LORD, He will bring to an end. Affliction will not rise up a second time.

10For they will be entangled as with thorns and consumed like the drink of a drunkard— like stubble that is fully dry.

11From you, O Nineveh, comes forth a plotter of evil against the LORD, a counselor of wickedness.

12This is what the LORD says: “Though they are allied and numerous, yet they will be cut down and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, O Judah, I will afflict you no longer.

13For I will now break their yoke from your neck and tear away your shackles.”

14The LORD has issued a command concerning you, O Nineveh: “There will be no descendants to carry on your name. I will cut off the carved image and cast idol from the house of your gods; I will prepare your grave, for you are contemptible.”

15Look to the mountains— the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows. For the wicked will never again march through you; they will be utterly cut off.

1One who scatters advances against you, O Nineveh. Guard the fortress! Watch the road! Brace yourselves! Summon all your strength!

2For the LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and ruined the branches of their vine.

3The shields of his mighty men are red; the valiant warriors are dressed in scarlet. The fittings of the chariots flash like fire on the day they are prepared, and the spears of cypress have been brandished.

4The chariots dash through the streets; they rush around the plazas, appearing like torches, darting about like lightning.

5He summons his nobles; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place.

6The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.

7It is decreed that the city be exiled and carried away; her maidservants moan like doves, and beat upon their breasts.

8Nineveh has been like a pool of water throughout her days, but now it is draining away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back.

9“Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!” There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.

10She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!

11Where is the lions’ lair or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled with their cubs, with nothing to frighten them away?

12The lion mauled enough for its cubs and strangled prey for the lioness. It filled its dens with the kill, and its lairs with mauled prey.

13“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will reduce your chariots to cinders, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.”

1Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.

2The crack of the whip, the rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!

3Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end— they stumble over their dead—

4because of the many harlotries of the harlot, the seductive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft.

5“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.

6I will pelt you with filth and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you.

7Then all who see you will recoil from you and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated; who will grieve for her?’ Where can I find comforters for you?”

8Are you better than Thebes, stationed by the Nile with water around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the water?

9Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were her allies.

10Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains.

11You too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy.

12All your fortresses are fig trees with the first ripe figs; when shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater!

13Look at your troops— they are like your women! The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire consumes their bars.

14Draw your water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Work the clay and tread the mortar; repair the brick kiln!

15There the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you down and consume you like a young locust. Make yourself many like the young locust; make yourself many like the swarming locust!

16You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips the land and flies away.

17Your guards are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts that settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows where.

18O king of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your officers sleep. Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them.

19There is no healing for your injury; your wound is severe. All who hear the news of you applaud your downfall, for who has not experienced your constant cruelty?