lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled; he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me! turning away he hath divided our fields.

5. Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD.

6. Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them that they shall not take shame.

7. O thou that art named The house of Jacob, is the Spirit of the LORD straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?

8. Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war.

9. The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for

ever.

10. Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.

11. If a man, walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine, and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.

12. I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.

13 The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their King shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.

CHAP. III.

1 The cruelty of the princes. 5 The falsehood of the prophets. 8 The security of them both.

1.

A
ND I said, Hear, I pray you, O

the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?

2. Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;

3. Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron. 4. Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them; he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

5. Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite

with their teeth, and cry, Peace: and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him:

6. Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.

7. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded; yea, they shall all cover their lips: for there is no answer of God.

8. But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.

9. Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.

10. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

11. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.

12. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field; and Jerusalem shall become heaps; and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest. CHAP. IV.

1 The establishment of Christ's kingdom: 3 The peace, restoration, kingdom, and victory of the church.

1.

OUT in the last days it shall come to

BUT

pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.

2. And many nations shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall

from Jerusalem.

3. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

4. But they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

5. For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever. 6. In that day, saith the LORD, will I as

semble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; 7. And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. 8. And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.

9. Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.

10. Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

11. Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.

12. But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.

13. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make thy horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass; and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the LORD of the whole earth.

1.

CHAP. V.

1 The birth of Christ: 4 His kingdom: 8 His conquest.

TOW gather thyself in troops, O

NOW daughter of troops: he hath laid

siege against us; they shall smite the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.

2. But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of the shall he come forth unto me

6. And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.

7. And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.

8. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he go through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

9. Thy hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.

10. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots:

11. And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds:

12. And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers:

13. Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images, out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thy hands.

14. And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.

in

15. And I will execute vengeance anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.

1.

CHAP. VI. God's controversy for unkindness, 6 for ignorance, 10 for

injustice, 16 and for idolatry. the LORD saith; HEAR ye now what before the moun

4. And he shall stand and feed in the

strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide; for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.

5. And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land; and, when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.

3. O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.

4. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

5. O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from

6. Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old?

7. Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8. He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

9. The LORD's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. 10. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?

11. Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?

12. For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13. Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.

14. Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down, shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.

15. Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.

16. For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

1 The church complaining, 5 putteth her confidence in God. 8 She triumpheth over her enemies. VO is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer-fruits, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the first-ripe fruit.

2. The good man is perished out of the earth; and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.

4. The best of them is as a brier; the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.

5. Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide; keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.

6. For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

7. Therefore I will look unto the LORD;! I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

8. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.

9. I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.

10. Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

11. In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed.

12. In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.

13. Notwithstanding, the land shall be desolate, because of them that dwell therein. for the fruit of their doings

14. Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

15. According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I show unto him marvellous things.

16. The nations shall see, and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.

17. They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee.

19. He will turn again, he will have com- || passion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities: and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

CHAP. I.

20. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

The majesty of God in goodness to his people, and severity

1.

against his enemies.

HE burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 2. God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious: the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.

3. The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

4. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.

5. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burnt at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.

6. 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 thrown down by him.

7. The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.

8. But with an over-running flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.

9. What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.

10. For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.

11. There is one come out of thee that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor.

12. Thus saith the LORD, Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.

13. For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. 14. 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

1. HE that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.

5. He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared.

6. The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.

7. And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.

8. But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water; yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.

9. 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.

10. She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.

11. Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?

12. The lion did tear in pieces enough for

2. The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots.

3. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:

4. Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.

5. Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. 6. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock.

7. 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?

8. Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?

CHAP. I.

9. Ethiopia and Egypt were her 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 top of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.

11. Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.

12. All thy strong holds shall be like figtrees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the

eater.

13. 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.

14. Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick-kiln.

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

16. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm spoileth, and fleeth away.

17. Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day; but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.

18. Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.

19. 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?