And passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever,

Because He delighteth in mercy. 19He will again have compassion

upon us;

He will subdue our iniquities; And Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20Thou wilt show faithfulness to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, As Thou hast sworn unto fathers from the days of old.

our

1 THE burden of Nineveh.

The

book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

"The LORD is a jealous and avenging God,

The LORD avengeth and is full of wrath;

The LORD taketh vengeance on His adversaries,

And He reserveth wrath for His enemies.

The LORD is long-suffering, and great in power,

And will by no means clear the guilty;

The LORD, in the whirlwind and in the storm is His way,

And the clouds are the dust of His feet.

"He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry,

And drieth up all the rivers; Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, And the flower of Lebanon languisheth.

"The mountains quake at Him, And the hills melt;

And the earth is upheaved at His presence,

Yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.

"Who can stand before His indignation?

And who can abide in the fierceness of His anger?

His fury is poured out like fire, And the rocks are broken asunder before Him.

"The LORD is good,

A stronghold in the day of trouble;

And He knoweth them that take refuge in Him.

But with an overrunning flood He will make a full end of the place thereof,

And darkness shall pursue His enemies.

"What do ye devise against the LORD?

He will make a full end;

Trouble shall not rise up the second time.

10For though they be like tangled thorns,

And be drunken according to their drink,

They shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.

"Out of thee came he forth,

That deviseth evil against the LORD,

That counselleth wickedness.

12Thus saith the LORD: Though they be in full strength, and likewise many,

Even so shall they be cut down,

and he shall pass away; And though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. 13And now will I break his yoke from off thee,

And will burst thy bonds in sunder.

"And the LORD hath given com

mandment concerning thee, That no more of thy name be sown; Out of the house of thy god will I cut off

The graven image and the molten image;

I will make thy grave; for thou art become worthless.

Behold upon the mountains the feet of him

That bringeth good tidings, that announceth peace!

Keep thy feasts, O Judah,
Perform thy vows;

For the wicked one shall no more
pass through thee;
He is utterly cut off.

*A maul is come up before thy face; Guard the defences,

Watch the way, make thy loins strong,

Fortify thy power mightily!For the LORD restoreth the pride of Jacob,

As the pride 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 are fire of steel in the day of his preparation,

And the cypress spears are made to quiver.

"The chariots rush madly in the streets,

They jostle one against another in the broad places;

The appearance of them is like torches,

They run to and fro like the lightnings.

"He bethinketh himself of his worthies;

They stumble in their march; They make haste to the wall thereof, And the mantelet is prepared. "The gates of the rivers are opened, And the palace is dissolved. And the queen is uncovered, she is carried away,

And her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, Tabering upon their breasts.

"But Nineveh hath been from of old like a pool of water; Yet they flee away; 'Stand, stand';

But none looketh back.

10Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold;

For there is no end of the store, Rich with all precious vessels. "She is empty, and void, and waste; And the heart melteth, and the knees smite together,

And convulsion is in all loins, And the faces of them all have gathered blackness.

12Where is the den of the lions, Which was the feeding-place of the young lions,

Where the lion and the lioness walked,

And the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?

And will make thee as dung. "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?'

Art thou better than No-amon, That was situate among the rivers,

That had the waters round about her;

Whose rampart was the sea, and of the sea her wall?

"Ethiopia and Egypt were thy strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. 10 Yet was she carried away, She went into captivity;

Her young children also were dashed in pieces

At the head of all the streets; And they cast lots for her honourable men,

And all her great men were bound in chains.

11Thou also shalt be drunken,

Thou shalt swoon;

Thou also shalt seek a refuge
Because of the enemy.

12All thy fortresses shall be like figtrees with the first-ripe figs: If they be shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.

13Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women;

The gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies; The fire hath devoured thy bars. 14Draw thee water for the siege, Strengthen thy fortresses;

Go into the clay, and tread the mortar,

Lay hold of the brickmould. 15There shall the fire devour thee;

The sword shall cut thee off,

It shall devour thee like the cankerworm;

Make thyself many as the cankerworm,

Make thyself many as the locust. 16Thou hast multiplied thy merchants

Above the stars of heaven; The canker-worm spreadeth itself, and flieth away.

Thy crowned are as the locusts, And thy marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers,

Which camp in the walls in the cold day,

But when the sun ariseth they flee away,

And their place is not known where they are.

18Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria,

Thy worthies are at rest;

Thy people are scattered upon the mountains,

And there is none to gather them. 19There is no assuaging of thy hurt, Thy wound is grievous;

All that hear the report of thee
Clap the hands over thee;

For upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?

THE burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

'How long, O LORD, shall I cry,
And Thou wilt not hear?

I cry out unto Thee of violence,
And Thou wilt not save.
Why dost Thou show me iniquity,
And beholdest mischief?

And why are spoiling and violence before me?

So that there is strife, and contention ariseth.

"Therefore the law is slacked, And right doth never go forth; For the wicked doth beset the righteous;

Therefore right goeth forth perverted.

Look ye among the nations, and behold,

And wonder marvellously;

For, behold, a work shall be wrought in your days,

Which ye will not believe though it be told you.

"For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, That bitter and impetuous nation, That march through the breadth of the earth,

To possess dwelling-places that are not theirs.

"They are terrible and dreadful;

Their law and their majesty proceed from themselves.

8Their horses also are swifter than leopards,

And are more fierce than the wolves of the desert;

And their horsemen spread themselves;

Yea, their horsemen come from far, They fly as a vulture that hasteth to devour.

"They come all of them for violence;