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CHAPTER
VII

God comfort-
eth her by
promises,

by confusion of the enemies,

and by his mercies.

Feede thy people with thy rod, the flocke of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel : let them feede in Bashan and Gilead, as in the dayes of old. According to the dayes of thy comming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him mervailous things.

The nations shall see, and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth: their eares shall be deafe. They shall licke the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like wormes of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall feare because of thee. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquitie, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? hee retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He wil turne againe, he will have compassion upon us: he will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all their sinnes into the depths of the Sea. Thou wilt performe the trueth to Iacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworne unto our fathers from the dayes of old.

The Maiestie of God, in goodnesse to his people, and severitie against his enemies.

NAHUM

CHAPTER I

[graphic]

HE burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. God is ielous, and the LORD revengeth: the LORD revengeth, and is furious, the LORD wil take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. 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 whirlewind, and in the storme, and the clouds are the dust of his feete. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it drie, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the floure of Lebanon languisheth. The mountaines quake at him, and the hilles melt, and the earth is burnt at his presence, yea the world and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fiercenesse of his anger? his furie is powred out like fire, and the rocks are throwen downe

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by him. The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble, CHAPTER and he knoweth them that trust in him. But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter ende of the place thereof, and darkenesse shall pursue his enemies. What doe ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter ende: affliction shall not rise up the second time. For while they be folden together as thornes, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully drie. There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evill against the LORD: a wicked counseller. Thus saith the LORD, Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut downe, when he shall passe through: though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. For now will I breake his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. And the LORD hath given a commandement concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sowen: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image, and the molten image, I wil make thy grave, for thou art vile. Behold upon the mountaines the feete of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace. O Iudah keepe thy solemne feasts, performe thy vowes: for the wicked shall no more passe through thee, he is utterly cut off.

HE

CHAPTER II

and victorious

E that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep The fearefull the munition, watch the way: make thy loines strong: armies of God, fortifie thy power mightily. For the LORD hath turned against away the excellencie of Iacob, as the excellencie of Israel: for the Nineveh. emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches. The shield of his mightie men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the charets shall bee with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the firre trees shall bee terribly shaken. The charets shall rage in the streets, they shall iustle one against another in the broad wayes: they shall seeme like torches, they shall runne like the lightnings. Hee shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walke: they shall make haste to the wal thereof, and the defence shall bee prepared. The gates of the rivers shall bee opened, and the palace shall bee dissolved. And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall leade her as with the voyce of doves, tabring upon their breasts. But Nineveh is of olde like a poole of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand shall they cry: but none shal looke backe. Take ye the spoyle of silver, take the spoile of golde for there is none end of the store, and glory out of all the 4: TT 329

II

CHAPTER pleasant furniture. Shee is emptie, and voide, and waste, and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much paine is in all loynes, and the faces of them all gather blacknesse. Where is the dwelling of the Lions, and the feeding place of the yong Lions? where the Lion, even the olde Lion walked, and the Lions whelpe, and none made them afraid. The Lion did teare in pieces enough for his whelpes, and strangled for his Lionesses, and filled his holes with pray, and his dens with ravine. Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burne her charets in the smoke, and the sword shall devoure thy yong Lions, and I wil cut off thy pray from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.

The miserable

ruine of Nineveh.

WO

CHAPTER III

OE to the bloody City, it is all full of lyes and robberie, the pray departeth not. The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheeles, and of the praunsing horses, and of the iumping charets. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword, and the glittering speare, and there is a multitude of slaine, and a great number of carkeises: and there is none ende of their corpses: they stumble upon their corpses, because of the multitude of the whoredomes of the wel-favoured harlot, the mistresse of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredomes, and families through her witchcrafts. Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hostes, and I will discover thy skirtes upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakednesse, and the kingdomes thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing stocke. And it shall come to passe, that all they that looke upon thee, shall flee from thee, and say; Nineveh is layde waste, who will bemoane her? whence shall I seeke comforters for thee? Art thou better then populous No, that was scituate among the rivers that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinit, Put and Lubim were thy helpers. Yet was she caried away, she went into captivitie: her yong children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streetes: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chaines. Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt bee hid, thou also shalt seeke strength because of the enemie. All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs: if they bee shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. Beholde, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set

III

wide open unto thine enemies, the fire shall devoure thy barres. CHAPTER Draw thee waters for the siege: fortifie thy strong holdes, goe into clay, and tread the morter: make strong the bricke-kill. There shall the fire devoure thee: the sword shall cut thee off: it shall eate thee up like the cankerworme: make thy selfe many as the cankerworme, make thy selfe many as the locusts. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the starres of heaven; the cankerworme spoileth and flieth away. The crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grashoppers which campe in the hedges in the cold day: but when the Sunne ariseth, they flee away, and their place is not knowen where they are. Thy shepheards slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust thy people is scattered upon the mountaines, and no man gathereth them. There is no healing of thy bruise: thy wound is grievous: all that heare the bruit of thee, shall clap the hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickednesse passed continually?

HABAKKUK

CHAPTER I

[graphic]

HE burden which Habakkuk the Prophet did Unto Habaksee. O LORD, howe long shall I crie, and thou kuk comwilt not heare! even cry out unto thee of the iniquitie plaining of violence, and thou wilt not save? Why doest of the land, 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 Lawe is slacked, and iudgement doeth never goe foorth: for the wicked doeth compasse about the righteous: therfore wrong iudgement proceedeth.

Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marveil- is shewed the ously: for I wil worke a worke in your daies, which yee will not fearefull vengeance by the beleeve, though it be tolde you. For loe, I raise up the Caldeans, Caldeans. that bitter and hastie nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possesse the dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadfull: their iudgement and

CHAPTER their dignity shal proceed of themselves. Their horses also are

I

Hee complaineth,

that vengeance

should be exe

cuted by them who are farre worse.

Unto Habakkuk, waiting for an answere, is shewed that

he must waite by faith.

The judgement upon the Caldean

swifter then the leopards, and are more fierce then the evening wolves and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from farre, they shall flie as the Eagle that hasteth to eate. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the East winde, and they shall gather the captivitie as the sand. And they shal scoffe at the Kings, and the Princes shall bee a scorne unto them: they shall deride every strong holde, for they shall heape dust and take it. Then shall his minde change, and he shall passe over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his God.

Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy one? we shall not die: O LORD, thou hast ordained them for iudgement, and O mightie God, thou hast established them for correction. Thou art of purer eyes then to beholde evill, and canst not looke on iniquitie: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deale treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous then hee? and makest men as the fishes of the Sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them. They take up all of them with the angle: they catch them in their net, and gather them in their dragge; therefore they reioyce and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burne incense unto their drag: because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. Shall they therefore emptie their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?

I

CHAPTER II

WILL stand upon my watch, and set mee upon the towre, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answere when I am reproved. And the LORD answered me and said, Write the vision, and make it plaine upon tables, that he may runne that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tary, wait for it, because it will surely come, it wil not tary. Behold, his soule which is lifted up, is not upright in him; but the iust shall live by his faith.

Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and for unsatiable is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people: shal not all these take up a parable against him, and a tanting proverbe against him, and say; Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his: how long?

nesse,

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