by Septuagint
[10] Arise thou, and depart; for this is not thy rest because of uncleanness: ye have been utterly destroyed; [11] ye have fled, no one pursuing you: thy spirit has framed falsehood, it has dropped on thee for wine and strong drink. But it shall come to pass, that out of the dropping of this people, [12] Jacob shall be completely gathered with all his people: I will surely receive the remnant of Israel; I will cause them to return together, as sheep in trouble, as a flock in the midst of their fold: they shall rush forth from among men through the breach made before them: [13] they have broken through, and passed the gate, and gone out by it: and their king has gone out before them, and the Lord shall lead them.
Chapter 3
[1] And he shall say, Hear now these words, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and ye remnant of the house of Israel; is it not for you to know judgment? [2] who hate good, and seek evil; who tear their skins off them, and their flesh off their bones: [3] even as they devoured the flesh of my people, and stripped their skins off them, and broke their bones, and divided them as flesh for the caldron, and as meat for the pot, [4] thus they shall cry to the Lord, but he shall not hearken to them; and he shall turn away his face from them at that time, because they have done wickedly in their practices against themselves.
[5] Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that lead my people astray, that bit with their teeth, and proclaim peace to them; and when nothing was put into their mouth, they raised up war against them: [6] therefore there shall be night to you instead of a vision, and there shall be to you darkness instead of prophecy; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be dark upon them. [7] And the seers of night-visions shall be ashamed, and the prophets shall be laughed to scorn: and all the people shall speak against them, because there shall be none to hearken to them. [8] Surely I will strengthen myself with the Spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of power, to declare to Jacob his transgressions, and to Israel his sins.
[9] Hear now these words, ye chiefs of the house of Jacob, and the remnant of the house of Israel, who hate judgment, and pervert all righteousness; [10] who build up Sion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. [11] The heads thereof have judged for gifts, and the priests thereof have answered for hire, and her prophets have divined for silver: and yet they have rested on the Lord, saying, Is not the Lord among us? no evil shall come upon us. [12] Therefore on your account Sion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a storehouse of fruits, and the mountain of the house as a grove of the forest.
Chapter 4
[1] And at the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, established on the tops of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and the peoples shall hasten to it. [2] And many nations shall go, and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and they shall shew us his way, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Sion shall go forth a law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. [3] And he shall judge among many peoples, and shall rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles; and nation shall no more lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn to war any more. [4] And every one shall rest under his vine, and every one under his fig-tree; and there shall be none to alarm them: for the mouth of the Lord Almighty has spoken these words. [5] For all other nations shall walk everyone in his own way, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.
[6] In that day, saith the Lord, I will gather her that is bruised, and will receive her that is cast out, and those whom I rejected. [7] And I will make her that was bruised a remnant, and her that was rejected a mighty nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Sion from henceforth, even for ever.
[8] And thou, dark tower of the flock, daughter of Sion, on thee the dominion shall come and enter in, even the first kingdom from Babylon to the daughter of Jerusalem. [9] And now, why hast thou known calamities? was there not a king to thee? or has thy counsel perished that pangs as of a woman in travail have seized upon thee? [10] Be in pain, and strengthen thyself, and draw near, O daughter of Sion, as a woman in travail: for now thou shalt go forth out of the city, and shalt lodge in the plain, and shalt reach even to Babylon: thence shall the Lord thy God deliver thee, and thence shall he redeem thee out of the hand of thine enemies.
[11] And now have many nations gathered against thee, saying, We will rejoice, and our eyes shall look upon Sion. [12] But they know not the thought of the Lord, and have not understood his counsel: for he has gathered them as sheaves of the floor. [13] Arise, and thresh them, O daughter of Sion: for I will make thine horns iron, and I will make thine hoofs brass: and thou shalt utterly destroy many nations, and shalt consecrate their abundance to the Lord, and their strength to the Lord of all the earth.
Chapter 5
[1] Now shall the daughter of Sion be completely hedged in: he has laid siege against us: they shall smite the tribes of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
[2] And thou, Bethleem, house of Ephratha, art few in number to be reckoned among the thousands of Juda; yet out of thee shall one come forth to me, to be a ruler of Israel; and his goings forth were from the beginning, even from eternity.
[3] Therefore shall he appoint them to wait till the time of her that travails: she shall bring forth, and then the remnant of their brethren shall return to the children of Israel. [4] And the Lord shall stand, and see, and feed his flock with power, and they shall dwell in the glory of the name of the Lord their God: for now shall they be magnified to the ends of the earth.
[5] And she shall have peace when Assur shall come into your land, and when he shall come up upon your country; and there shall be raised up against him seven shepherds, and eight attacks of men. [6] And they shall tend the Assyrian with a sword, and the land of Nebrod with her trench: and he shall deliver you from the Assyrian, when he shall come upon your land, and when he shall invade your coasts.
[7] And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many peoples, as dew falling from the Lord, and as lambs on the grass; that none may assemble nor resist among the sons of men. [8] And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many nations, as a lion in the forest among cattle, and as a lion’s whelp among the flocks of sheep, even as when he goes through, and selects, and carries off his prey, and there is none to deliver. [9] Thine hand shall be lifted up against them that afflict thee, and all thine enemies shall be utterly destroyed.
[10] And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will utterly destroy the horses out of the midst of thee, and destroy thy chariots; [11] and I will utterly destroy the cities of thy land, and demolish all thy strong-holds: [12] and I will utterly destroy thy sorceries out of thine hands; and there shall be no soothsayers in thee. [13] And I will utterly destroy thy graven images, and thy statues out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt never any more worship the works of thine hands. [14] And I will cut off the groves out of the midst of thee, and I will abolish thy cities. [15] and I will execute vengeance on the heathen in anger and wrath, because they hearkened not.
Chapter 6
[1] Hear now a word: the Lord God has said; Arise, plead with the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
[2] Hear ye, O mountains, the controversy of the Lord, and ye valleys even the foundations of the earth: for the Lord has a controversy with his people, and will plead with Israel. [3] O my people, what have I done to thee? or wherein have I grieved thee? or wherein have I troubled thee? answer me. [4] For I brought tee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, and sent before thee Moses, and Aaron, and Mariam.
[5] O my people, remember now, what counsel Balac king of Moab took against thee, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from the reeds to Galgal; that the righteousness of the Lord might be known.
[6] Wherewithal shall I reach the Lord, and lay hold of my God most high? shall I reach
him by whole-burnt-offerings, by calves of a year old? [7] Will the Lord accept thousands of rams, or ten thousands of fat goats? should I give my first-born for ungodliness, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? [8] Has it not been told thee, O man, what is good? or what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justice, and love mercy, and be ready to walk with the Lord thy God?
[9] The Lord’s voice shall be proclaimed in the city, and he shall save those that fear his name: hear, O tribe; and who shall order the city? [10] Is there not fire, and the house of the wicked heaping up wicked treasures, and that with the pride of unrighteousness? [11] Shall the wicked be justified by the balanced, or deceitful weights in the bag, [12] whereby they have accumulated their ungodly wealth, and they that dwell in the city have uttered falsehoods, and their tongue has been exalted in their mouth?
[13] Therefore will I begin to smite thee; I will destroy thee in thy sins. [14] Thou shalt eat, and shalt not be satisfied; and there shall be darkness upon thee; and he shall depart from thee, and thou shalt not escape; and all that shall escape shall be delivered over to the sword. [15] Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt press the olive, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with oil; and shalt make wine, but ye shall drink no wine: and the ordinances of my people shall be utterly abolished. [16] For thou hast kept the statues of Zambri, and done all the works of the house of Achaab; and ye have walked in their ways, that I might deliver thee to utter destruction, and those that inhabit the city to hissing: and ye shall bear the reproach of nations.
Chapter 7
[1] Alas for me! for I am become as one gathering straw in harvest, and as one gathering grape-gleanings in the vintage, when there is no cluster for me to eat the first-ripe fruit: alas my soul! [2] For the godly is perished from the earth; and there is none among men that orders his way aright: they all quarrel even to blood: they grievously afflict every one his neighbour: [3] they prepare their hands for mischief, the prince asks a reward, and the judge speaks flattering words; it is the desire of their soul: [4] therefore I will take away their goods as a devouring moth, and as one who acts by a rigid rule in a day of visitation. Woe, woe, thy times of vengeance are come; now shall be their lamentations. [5] Trust not in friends, and confide not in guides: beware of thy wife, so as not to commit anything to her. [6] For the son dishonours his father, the daughter will rise up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: those in his house shall be all a man’s enemies.
[7] But I will look to the Lord; I will wait upon God my Saviour: my God will hearken to me.
[8] Rejoice not against me, mine enemy; for I have fallen yet shall arise; for though I should sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light to me. [9] I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he make good my cause: he also shall maintain my right, and shall bring me out to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. [10] And she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shall clothe herself with shame, who says, Where is the Lord thy God? mine eyes shall look upon her: now shall she be for trampling as mire in the ways.
[11] It is the day of making of brick; that day shall be thine utter destruction, and that day shall utterly abolish thine ordinances. [12] And thy cities shall be levelled, and parted among the Assyrians; and thy strong cities shall be parted from Tyre to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. [13] And the land shall be utterly desolate together with them that inhabit it, because of the fruit of their doings.
[14] Tend thy people with thy rod, the sheep of thine inheritance, those that inhabit by themselves the thicket in the midst of Carmel: they shall feed in the land of Basan, and in the land of Galaad, as in the days of old.
[15] And according to the days of thy departure out of Egypt shall ye see marvellous things. [16] The nations shall see and be ashamed; and at all their might they shall lay their hands upon their mouth, their ears shall be deafened. [17] They shall lick the dust as serpents crawling on the earth, they shall be confounded in their holes; they shall be amazed at the Lord our God, and will be afraid of thee.
[18] Who is a God like thee, cancelling iniquities, and passing over the sins of the remnant of his inheritance? and he has not kept his anger for a testimony, for he delights in mercy. [19] He will return and have mercy upon us; he will sink our iniquities, and they shall be cast into the depth of the sea, even all our sins. [20] He shall give blessings truly to Jacob, and mercy to Abraam, as thou swarest to our fathers, according to the former days.
Nahum
Chapter 1
[1] The burden of Nineve: the book of the vision of Naum the Elkesite.
[2] God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; the Lord avenges with wrath; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he cuts off his enemies. [3] The Lord is long-suffering, and his power is great, and the Lord will not hold any guiltless: his way is in destruction and in the whirlwind, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. [4] He threatens the sea, and dries it up, and exhausts all the rivers: the land of Basan, and Carmel are brought low, and the flourishing trees of Libanus have come to nought. [5] The mountains quake at him, and the hills are shaken, and the earth recoils at his presence, even the world, and all that dwell in it. [6] Who shall stand before his anger? and who shall withstand in the anger of his wrath? his wrath brings to nought kingdoms, and the rocks are burst asunder by him.
[7] The Lord is good to them that wait on him in the day of affliction; and he knows them that reverence him. [8] But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end: darkness shall pursue those that rise up against him and his enemies. [9] What do ye devise against the Lord? he will make a complete end: he will not take vengeance by affliction twice at the same time. [10] For the enemy shall be laid bare even to the foundation, and shall be devoured as twisted yew, and as stubble fully dry.
[11] Out of thee shall proceed a device against the Lord, counselling evil things hostile to him.
[12] Thus saith the Lord who rules over many waters, Even thus shall they be sent away, and the report of thee shall not be heard any more. [13] And now will I break his rod from off thee, and will burst thy bonds.
[14] And the Lord shall give a command concerning thee; there shall no more of thy name be scattered: I will utterly destroy the graven images out of the house of thy god, and the molten images: I will make thy grave; for they are swift.
[15] Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that brings glad tidings, and publishes peace! O Juda, keep thy feasts, pay thy vows: for they shall no more pass through thee to thy decay.
Chapter 2
[1] It is all over with him, he has been removed, one who has been delivered from affliction has come up panting into thy presence, watch the way, strengthen thy loins, be very valiant in thy strength.
[2] For the Lord has turned aside the pride of Jacob, as the pride of Israel: for they have utterly rejected them, and have destroyed their branches. [3] They have destroyed the arms of their power from among men, their mighty men sporting with fire: the reins of their chariots shall be destroyed in the day of his preparation, and the horsemen shall be thrown into confusion [4] in the ways, and the chariots shall clash together, and shall be entangled in each other in the broad ways: their appearance is as lamps of fire, and as gleaming lightnings.
[5] And their mighty men shall bethink themselves and flee by day; and they shall be weak as they go; and they shall hasten to her walls, and shall prepare their defences. [6] The gates of the cities have been opened, and the palaces have fallen into ruin, [7] and the foundation has been exposed; and she has gone up, and her maid-servants were led away as doves moaning in their hearts. [8] And as for Nineve, her waters shall be as a pool of water: and they fled, and staid not, and there was none to look back.
[9] They plundered the silver, they plundered the gold, and there was no end of their adorning; they were loaded with it upon all their pleasant vessels. [10] There is thrusting forth, and shaking, and tumult, and heart-breaking
, and loosing of knees, and pangs on all loins; and the faces of all are as the blackening of a pot.
[11] Where is the dwelling-place of the lions, and the pasture that belonged to the whelps? where did the lion go, that the lion’s whelp should enter in there, and there was none to scare him away? [12] The lion seized enough prey for his whelps, and strangled for his young lions, and filled his lair with prey, and his dwelling-place with spoil.
[13] Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord Almighty, and I will burn up thy multitude in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy lions; and I will utterly destroy thy prey from off the land, and thy deeds shall no more at all be heard of.
Chapter 3
[1] O city of blood, wholly false, full of unrighteousness; the prey shall not be handled. [2] The noise of whips, and the noise of the rumbling of wheels, and of the pursuing horse, and of the bounding chariot, [3] and of the mounting rider, and of the glittering sword, and of the gleaming arms, and of a multitude of slain, and of heavy falling: and there was no end to her nations, but they shall be weak in their bodies [4] because of the abundance of fornication: she is a fair harlot, and well-favoured, skilled in sorcery, that sells the nations by her fornication, and peoples by her sorceries.
