From you [O Nineveh],
One has gone forth who plotted evil against the Lord,
A malevolent counselor [the king of Assyria].

This is what the Lord says,

“Though they are at full strength and many in number,
Even so, they will be cut off and pass away.
Though I have afflicted you and caused you grief [O Jerusalem],
I will afflict you no longer.

For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.

And the LORD hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.

Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.

The watchmen of Nineveh shout: "An enemy who will scatter you is marching out to attack you!" "Guard the rampart! Watch the road! Prepare yourselves for battle! Muster your mighty strength!"

For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.

The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.

The chariots rage in the streets; they rush to and fro in the broad ways: the appearance of them is like torches; they run like the lightnings.

It is decreed:
Nineveh is stripped, and she is carried away,
And her handmaids are moaning like the sound of doves,
Beating on their breasts [in sorrow].

Yet, as for Nineveh, like a reservoir of waters, are her waters, - but, those men, are in flight! Stand! stand but no one is turning.

Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.

Where is the habitation of lionesses? And a feeding-place it is for young lions Where walked hath a lion, an old lion, A lion's whelp, and there is none troubling.

The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.

"Look! I am against you!" {declares} Yahweh of hosts. "I will burn her chariots {with fire}; the sword will devour fierce lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth; the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard."

Alas for the city of bloodshed! All of it, deceit, of violence full, none releaseth prey!

Because of the multitude of the unchaste doings of the unchaste one, fair in grace, mistress of secret arts, - who hath been selling nations by her unchaste doings, families by her secret arts,

And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?

Cush her might, and Egypt, and there is no end. Put and Lubim have been for thy help.

Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.

And you will be overcome with wine, you will become feeble; you will be looking for a safe place from those who are fighting against you.

All your walled places will be like fig-trees and your people like the first figs, falling at a shake into the mouth which is open for them.

Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.

Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.

There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.

There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?

O Lord, how long will I call for help
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do not save.

Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.

Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.

They are frightening and terrifying; they decide for themselves what is right.

Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.

They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.

And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.

Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.

For You make man like the fish of the sea, like creeping things with no ruler over them.

He takes them all up with his hook, he takes them in his net, getting them together in his fishing-net: for which cause he is glad and full of joy.

therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag; for by them his portion is become fat, and his meat dainty.

For this cause his net is ever open, and there is no end to his destruction of the nations.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

As for the man of pride, my soul has no pleasure in him; but the upright man will have life through his good faith.

{How much less} the defiant; [the] arrogant, treacherous man? He who broadens his throat like Sheol, and who, like death, is not satisfied, and who gathers to himself all the nations, and harvested for himself all the peoples, will not succeed.

Do not these -- all of them -- against him a simile taken up, And a moral of acute sayings for him, And say, Woe to him who is multiplying what is not his? Till when also is he multiplying to himself heavy pledges?

Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?

Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.

Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!

You have plotted shame for your house, cutting off many peoples and sinning against your life.

For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.

Alas! for him who buildeth a city with deeds of blood, - and establisheth a town with perversity.

Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Alas! for him who causeth his neighbour to drink, from the goblet of thy fury, and also, making him drunk, - to the end thou mayest gloat over their parts of shame.

Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD'S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.

For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.

“What profit is the carved image when its maker has formed it?
It is only a cast image, and a teacher of lies.
For its maker trusts in his own creation [as his god]
When he makes speechless idols.

“Woe (judgment is coming) to him who says to the wooden image, ‘Awake!’
And to the speechless stone, ‘Arise!’
And that is your teacher?
Look, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
And there is no breath at all inside it.

But the LORD in his holy temple is he, whom all the world should fear.

{A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk for the ignorances} O LORD, I have heard thy voice, and was afraid.

Lord, I have heard the report about You and I fear.
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years,
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.

And his brightness was like [the] light; flashing rays [came] from his hand for him; And there [is] the covering of his strength.

He standeth, and measureth the earth. He looketh, and the people consume away, the mountains of the world fall down to powder, and the hills are fain to bow themselves, for his goings are everlasting and sure.

I saw, that the pavilions of the Ethiopians and the tents of the land of Midian were vexed for weariness.

Against rivers hath Jehovah been wroth? Against rivers is Thine anger? Against the sea is Thy wrath? For Thou dost ride on Thy horses -- Thy chariots of salvation?

You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers.

The mountains saw you and were moved with fear; the clouds were streaming with water: the voice of the deep was sounding; the sun did not come up, and the moon kept still in her place.

Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.

Thou makest a way for thine horses in the sea, even in the mud of great waters.

I heard, and my body trembled, My lips quivered at the voice; Rottenness entereth into my bones, and I tremble in my place; Because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, For the coming up of the people that invadeth us.

For though the fig-tree shall not flourish, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labor of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no food; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls:

as for me, I will rejoice in the LORD. I will find my joy in the God who delivers me.

Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer's feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.

I will completely sweep away everything
from the face of the earth—
this is the Lord’s declaration.

And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor inquired for him.

Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.

Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off.

And their wealth hath been for a spoil, And their houses for desolation, And they have built houses, and do not inhabit, And they have planted vineyards, And they do not drink their wine.

For the great day of the LORD is at hand: it is heard by, and cometh on a pace. Horrible is the tidings of the LORD's day; then shall the giant cry out.

For that day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and heaviness, a day of utter destruction and misery, a dark and gloomy day, a cloudy and stormy day,

And I will bring distress upon men, and they shall walk like blind men; for they have sinned against Jehovah; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung:

Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

Before the decree takes effect [and the time for repentance is lost]—
The day passes like the chaff [whirled by the wind]—
Before the burning and fierce anger of the Lord comes upon you,
Before the day of the wrath of the Lord comes upon you.

Seek the Lord [search diligently for Him and regard Him as the foremost necessity of your life],
All you humble of the land
Who have practiced His ordinances and have kept His commandments;
Seek righteousness, seek humility [regard them as vital].
Perhaps you will be hidden [and pardoned and rescued]
In the day of the Lord’s anger.

For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.

Alas! for the inhabitants of the line of the sea, the nation of Kerethim, - The word of Yahweh, is against you, O Canaan of the land of the Philistines, therefore will I destroy thee, to the last inhabitant.

And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.

And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the LORD their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity.

For this cause, by my life, says the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, truly Moab will become like Sodom and the children of Ammon like Gomorrah, given up to waste plants and salt pools and unpeopled for ever: the rest of my people will take their property, the overflow of my nation will take their heritage.

This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of hosts.

The LORD will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.

"Now as for you, Cush, you will surely be slain by my sword!

And He stretcheth His hand against the north, And doth destroy Asshur, And he setteth Nineveh for a desolation, A dry land like a wilderness.

And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work.

This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.

Alas for her that is rebellious, and polluted, the city that oppresseth!

She gave no attention to the voice, she had no use for teaching, she put no faith in the Lord, she did not come near to her God.

Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves, that leave nothing for the morning.

Her prophets are good-for-nothing persons, full of deceit: her priests have made the holy place unclean and have gone violently against the law.

I have cut off nations, deserted are their towers, have made desolate their streets, that none passeth through; ruined are their cities, for want of men of note, from lack of any dweller!

I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.