They will be afraid of you.
18 Who is an El like you?
You forgive sin and overlook the rebellion of your faithful people.
You will not be angry forever, because you would rather show mercy.
19 You will again have compassion on us.
You will overcome our wrongdoing.
You will throw all our sins into the deep sea.
20 You will be faithful to Jacob.
You will have mercy on Abraham as you swore by an oath to our ancestors long ago.
a The inspiring story of this courageous young woman is related in her memoir In the Name of Honor by Mukhtar Mai (New York: Atria, 2006) and in Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (New York: Knopf, 2009).
a 1:10 Or "I rolled in the dust of Beth Leaphrah."
a 3:7 A seer is a prophet.
a 4:12 A threshing floor is an outdoor area where grain is separated from its husks.
b 4:13 Threshing is the process of beating stalks to separate them from the grain.
c 5:1 Micah 5:1-15 in English Bibles is Micah 4:14-5:14 in the Hebrew Bible.
a 6:5 Hebrew meaning of this line uncertain.
b 6:9 Greek; Masoretic Text "Listen to the stick and the one who appointed it."
a 7:3 Hebrew meaning of this line uncertain.
Introduction to NAHUM.
If you read the book of Nahum alongside the book of Jonah, you may wonder if God had a radical personality change during the slightly more than a hundred years separating the two prophets. Jonah is about God's amazing mercy to Nineveh. Nahum, written just before Assyria's fall in 612 BC, is about God's fierce punishment of the very same city.
Nineveh was the capital of the mighty neo-Assyrian Empire, a superpower that steamrolled through the Near East in the eighth and seventh centuries BC. Its powerful leaders included Tiglath-pileser III, Sennacherib (mentioned in 2 Kings 18-19 and Isaiah 36-37), and, not long before Nahum prophesied, Ashurbanipal. Its royal treasures were the wonders of the world. Today, over twentyfive hundred years later, there are still well-preserved samples of its art and architecture in museums in Paris, Berlin, London, and Chicago.
In Nahum's day, Nineveh was synonymous with cruelty. The prophet likens its inhabitants to rampaging lions. He describes it with military metaphors, calling it a "city of bloody violence" (Nahum 3:1). When rising Babylon defeated Assyria's forces late in the seventh century, all the surrounding nations rejoiced. As Nahum predicted, "All who hear the news about you will clap their hands. Who hasn't suffered from your endless evil?" (3:19). Alas, the hand-clapping was premature. Babylon's armies were soon raiding Judah, and in about twentyfive years they would flatten Jerusalem.
The book of Nahum is about more than vengeance, however. It broadens our understanding of who God is. In the first chapter, the prophet seems to contradict himself. God is "full of anger" (verse 2), but "Yahweh is patient" (verse 3). "He pours out his rage like fire and smashes the rocky cliffs" (verse 6), but "he is a fortress in the day of trouble" (verse 7). We can see that in order to rescue his people, God must judge and eventually either change or eliminate those who would harm them. And yet a God who simultaneously protects and destroys is a bigger God than we can easily imagine. "I make light and create darkness," God said through the prophet Isaiah. "I make blessings and create disasters. I, Yahweh, do all these things" (Isaiah 45:7). God cannot be put in limited human categories. He is the God of Jonah and the God of Nahum.
Key Names of God in Nahum Yahweh LORD El Kanna Consuming Fire, Jealous God Yahweh Tsebaoth the LORD Almighty, the LORD of Armies, the LORD of Hosts NAHUM.
1 2 3.
Nahum's Vision 1 1 This is a revelation from the LORD about Nineveh. This book contains the vision of Nahum from Elkosh.
Who Can Withstand the LORD'S Anger?
2 El Kanna. Yahweh takes revenge.
Yahweh takes revenge and is full of anger.
Yahweh takes revenge against his enemies and holds a grudge against his foes.
3 Yahweh is patient and has great strength.
Yahweh will never let the guilty go unpunished.
Raging winds and storms mark his path, and clouds are the dust from his feet.
4 He yells at the sea and makes it dry.
He dries up all the rivers.
Bashan and Carmel wither.
The flowers of Lebanon wither.
5 The mountains quake because of him.
The hills melt.
The earth draws back in his presence.
The world and all who live in it draw back as well.
6 Who can stand in the presence of his rage?
Who can oppose his burning anger?
He pours out his rage like fire and smashes the rocky cliffs.
Why Does Nineveh Oppose the LORD?
7 Yahweh is good.
He is a fortress in the day of trouble.
He knows those who seek shelter in him.
8 He will put an end to Nineveh with a devastating flood.
He will pursue his enemies with darkness.
9 What do you think about Yahweh?
He is the one who will bring Nineveh to an end.
This trouble will never happen again.
10 The people of Nineveh will be like tangled thorns and like people drunk on their own drink.
They will be completely burned up like very dry straw.
11 From you, Nineveh, a person who plans evil against Yahweh sets out.
His advice is wicked.
Nineveh Will Fall 12 This is what Yahweh says: Though the people of Nineveh are physically fit and many in number, they will be cut down and die.
Though I have humbled you, Judah, I will not humble you again.
13 But now I will break Nineveh's yokea off of you and tear its chains from you.
14 Yahweh has given this command about you, Nineveh: You will no longer have descendants to carry on your name.
I will remove the wooden and metal idols from the temple of your gods.
I will prepare your grave because you are worthless.b An Army Will Conquer Nineveh 15 There on the mountains are the feet of a messenger who announces the good news: "All is well!"
Celebrate your festivals, Judah! Keep your vows!
This wickedness will never pass your way again.
It will be completely removed.
2 c1 The one who will scatter you is coming to attack you.
Guard your fortress!
Keep a lookout on the road!
Prepare for battle!
Be very courageous!
2 Yahweh will restore Jacob's glory like Israel's glory, although enemies have looted it and have destroyed its vines.
3 The shields of his warriors are painted red.
His soldiers have red uniforms.
The metal on his chariots flashes fiery red, so do the spears when they are waved on the day he prepares for battle.
4 Chariots are racing madly through the streets, rushing this way and that in the city squares.
They look like torches, like lightning, as they dart about.
5 He remembers his best fighting men.
They stumble over themselves as they march.
They hurry to Nineveh's wall.
The shield has been set up for the battering ram.
6 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace melts away.
Nineveh's Treasures Will Be Taken 7 Yahweh has determined: "It will be stripped.
It will be carried away.
Its young women will be mourning like doves as they beat their breasts."
8 Nineveh was like a pool of water from its first day on.
But now its people are fleeing.
"Stop! Stop!"
But no one turns around.
9 Steal the silver! Steal the gold!
There is no end to what is stored here- everything a person could ever want.
10 Nineveh is destroyed, deserted, demolished.
Hearts are melting.
Knees are knocking.
Every stomach becomes upset.