Micah 7 · Nahum 1–2

1Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard. There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig.

2The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.

3Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe. The powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.

4The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, even your visitation, has come; now is the time of their confusion.

5Don’t trust in a neighbor. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth!

6For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.

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

8Don’t rejoice against me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, Yahweh will be a light to me.

9I will bear the indignation of Yahweh, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my case and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light. I will see his righteousness.

10Then my enemy will see it, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is Yahweh your God?” My eyes will see her. Now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets.

11A day to build your walls! In that day, he will extend your boundary.

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

13Yet the land will be desolate because of those who dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.

14Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your heritage, who dwell by themselves in a forest. Let them feed in the middle of fertile pasture land, in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

15“As in the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things.”

16The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hand on their mouth. Their ears will be deaf.

17They will lick the dust like a serpent. Like crawling things of the earth, they will come trembling out of their dens. They will come with fear to Yahweh our God, and will be afraid because of you.

18Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness.

19He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

20You will give truth to Jacob, and mercy to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

1A revelation about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

2Yahweh is a jealous God and avenges. Yahweh avenges and is full of wrath. Yahweh takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath against his enemies.

3Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

4He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel languish. The flower of Lebanon languishes.

5The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it.

6Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him.

7Yahweh 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 full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

9What do you plot against Yahweh? He will make a full end. Affliction won’t rise up the second time.

10For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble.

11One has gone out of you who devises evil against Yahweh, who counsels wickedness.

12Yahweh says: “Though they are in full strength and likewise many, even so they will be cut down and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.

13Now I will break his yoke from off you, and will burst your bonds apart.”

14Yahweh has commanded concerning you: “No more descendants will bear your name. Out of the house of your gods, I will cut off the engraved image and the molten image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.”

15Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, Judah! Perform your vows, for the wicked one will no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off.

1He who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress! Watch the way! Strengthen your waist! Fortify your power mightily!

2For Yahweh restores the excellency of Jacob as the excellency of Israel, for the destroyers have destroyed them and ruined their vine branches.

3The shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the pine spears are brandished.

4The chariots rage in the streets. They rush back and forth in the wide ways. Their appearance is like torches. They run like the lightnings.

5He summons his picked troops. They stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in place.

6The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.

7It is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her servants moan as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts.

8But Nineveh has been from of old like a pool of water, yet they flee away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one looks back.

9Take the plunder of silver. Take the plunder of gold, for there is no end of treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.

10She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.

11Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked with the lion’s cubs, and no one made them afraid?

12The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled prey for his lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill and his dens with prey.

13“Behold, I am against you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions; and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.”