Day 267: Micah 7; Nahum 1–3; Habakkuk 1

1Woe is me! for I am as ^awhen they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.

2The ^bgood 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.

3That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth ^chis mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.

4The 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.

5Trust 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.

6For 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.

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

8Rejoice 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.

9I 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^dThen 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 ^eshall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

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

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

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

14^hFeed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine 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.

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

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

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

18Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, 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 turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

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

1The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

2^aGod is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and ^bis furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.

3The 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.

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

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

6Who can stand before his indignation? and who can ^cabide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

14And 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.

15Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, ^hkeep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for ⁱthe wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.

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

2For the LORD hath turned away ^bthe excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.

3The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are ^cin scarlet: the chariots shall be with ^dflaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.

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

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

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

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

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

9Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: ^mfor there is none end of the store and glory out of all the ⁿpleasant furniture.

10She 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.

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

12The 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.

13Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.

1Woe to the ^abloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;

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

3The horseman lifteth up both ^bthe 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:

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

5Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.

6And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.

7And 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?

8Art thou better than ^cpopulous 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?

9Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were ^dthy helpers.

10Yet 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.

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

12All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.

13Behold, 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.

14Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.

15There 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.

16Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm ^espoileth, and flieth away.

17Thy 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.

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

19There is no ^ghealing 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?

1The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

2O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

3Why 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.

4Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore ^awrong judgment proceedeth.

5Behold 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.

6For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the ^bbreadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.

7They are terrible and dreadful: ^ctheir judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.

8Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more ^dfierce 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.

9They shall come all for violence: ^etheir faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.

10And 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.

11Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.

12Art 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 ^fmighty God, thou hast ^gestablished them for correction.

13Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on ^hiniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?

14And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the ⁱcreeping things, that have no ruler over them?

15They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their ^jdrag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.

16Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat ^kplenteous.

17Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?