A Message to Cush

¹Woe to the land of whirring wings,along the rivers of Cush,

²which sends couriers by sea,in papyrus vessels on the waters.Go, swift messengers,to a people tall and smooth-skinned,to a people widely feared,to a powerful nation of strange speech,whose land is divided by rivers.

³All you people of the worldand dwellers of the earth,when a banner is raised on the mountains,you will see it;when a ram’s horn sounds,you will hear it.

⁴For this is what the LORD has told me:“I will quietly look on from My dwelling place,like shimmering heat in the sunshine,like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

⁵For before the harvest, when the blossom is goneand the flower becomes a ripening grape,He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knifeand remove and discard the branches.

⁶They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey,and to the beasts of the land.The birds will feed on them in summer,and all the wild animals in winter.

⁷At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD of Hosts—from a people tall and smooth-skinned,from a people widely feared,from a powerful nation of strange speech,whose land is divided by rivers—to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD of Hosts.

The Burden against Nineveh

¹This is the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:

²The LORD is a jealous and avenging God;the LORD is avenging and full of wrath.The LORD takes vengeance on His foesand reserves wrath for His enemies.

³The LORD is slow to angerand great in power;the LORD will by no meansleave the guilty unpunished.His path is in the whirlwind and storm,and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.

⁴He rebukes the sea and dries it up;He makes all the rivers run dry.Bashan and Carmel wither,and the flower of Lebanon wilts.

⁵The mountains quake before Him,and the hills melt away;the earth trembles at His presence—the world and all its dwellers.

⁶Who can withstand His indignation?Who can endure His burning anger?His wrath is poured out like fire;even rocks are shattered before Him.

⁷The LORD is good,a stronghold in the day of distress;He cares for those who trust in Him.

⁸But with an overwhelming floodHe will make an end of Ninevehand pursue His enemies into darkness.

⁹Whatever you plot against the LORD,He will bring to an end.Affliction will not rise upa second time.

¹⁰For they will be entangled as with thornsand consumed like the drink of a drunkard—like stubble that is fully dry.

¹¹From you, O Nineveh, comes fortha plotter of evil against the LORD,a counselor of wickedness.

¹²This is what the LORD says:“Though they are allied and numerous,yet they will be cut down and pass away.Though I have afflicted you, O Judah,I will afflict you no longer.

¹³For I will now break their yoke from your neckand tear away your shackles.”

¹⁴The LORD has issued a command concerning you, O Nineveh:“There will be no descendantsto carry on your name.I will cut off the carved image and cast idolfrom the house of your gods;I will prepare your grave,for you are contemptible.”

¹⁵Look to the mountains—the feet of one who brings good news,who proclaims peace!Celebrate your feasts, O Judah;fulfill your vows.For the wicked will never again march through you;they will be utterly cut off.

The Razor of Judgment

¹“As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword, use it as a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair.

²When the days of the siege have ended, you are to burn up a third of the hair inside the city; you are also to take a third and slash it with the sword all around the city; and you are to scatter a third to the wind. For I will unleash a sword behind them.

³But you are to take a few strands of hair and secure them in the folds of your garment.

⁴Again, take a few of these, throw them into the fire, and burn them. From there a fire will spread to the whole house of Israel.

⁵This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.

⁶But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations, and against My statutes worse than the countries around her. For her people have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.’

⁷Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You have been more insubordinate than the nations around you; you have not walked in My statutes or kept My ordinances, nor have you even conformedto the ordinances of the nations around you.’

⁸Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I Myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.

⁹Because of all your abominations, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.

¹⁰As a result, fathers among you will eat their sons, and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments against you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.’

Famine, Sword, and Dispersion

¹¹Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.

¹²A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every wind and unleash a sword behind them.

¹³And when My anger is spent and I have vented My wrath against them, I will be appeased. And when I have spent My wrath on them, they will know that I, the LORD, in My zeal have spoken.

¹⁴I will make you a ruin and a disgrace among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by.

¹⁵So you will bea reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror to the nations around you, when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath, and raging fury. I, the LORD, have spoken.

¹⁶When I shower youwith the deadly arrows of famine and destruction that I will send to destroy you, I will intensify the famine against you and cut off your supplyof food.

¹⁷I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

Thirsting for God

¹O God, You are my God.Earnestly I seek You;my soul thirsts for You.My body yearns for Youin a dry and weary land without water.

²So I have seen You in the sanctuaryand beheld Your power and glory.

³Because Your loving devotion is better than life,my lips will glorify You.

⁴So I will bless You as long as I live;in Your name I will lift my hands.

⁵My soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods;with joyful lips my mouth will praise You.

⁶When I remember You on my bed,I think of You through the watches of the night.

⁷For You are my help;I will sing for joy in the shadow of Your wings.

⁸My soul clings to You;Your right hand upholds me.

⁹But those who seek my life to destroy itwill go into the depths of the earth.

¹⁰They will fall to the power of the sword;they will become a portion for foxes.

¹¹But the king will rejoice in God;all who swear by Him will exult,for the mouths of liars will be shut.