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while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.

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

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.

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

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 the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.

Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace: O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly

cut off.

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.

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.

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 firtrees shall be terribly shaken.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

The 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.

Behold, 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 my messengers shall no more be heard.

Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and rob. bery; the prey departeth not.

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

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; and they stumble upon their corpses: Behold

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Behold I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing stock.

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 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?

Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite, Put and Lubim were thy helpers.

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

All thy strong holds shall be like fig-trees with the first-ripe figs; if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.

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.

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

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 as many as the locusts.

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

Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as

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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.

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.

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 wickeduess passed continually?

ANNOTATIONS AND REFLECTIONS.

The repentance of Nineveh at the preaching of Jo. nah, was of short continuance; the people soon returned to their former evil ways. Other kings in succession ruled over the Assyrian empire, of which Nineveh was the capital city, and at length. Shalmanesar, one of these kings, carried his arms against the king and people of Israel, over whom he was suffered to prevail, as has been already related. Some years afterwards Sennacherib, the son of this monarch, attempted the subjection of Judah also, and was so far successful as to make that nation tributary to him; but that it might not be supposed this presumptuous king, and his subjects who joined with him, should escape with impunity, or that the LORD was an unconcerned spectator of their proceedings, the prophet Nahum was inspired to foretel the approaching miserable end of Nineveh. It is not expressly said, that Nahum had, like Jonah, a commission to go to this proud city; but it is agreeable to the usual method of providence, in those ages to suppose, that the threatenings of Divine vengeance were denounced in the ears of the heathen nations, before they were put in execution; and that

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they were afterwards recorded, to serve as lasting testimonies of Divine justice.

Nahum lived in the reign of Hezekiah, about 90 years after Jonah. His prophecy in the original Hebrew is a fine poem in very sublime language; it is impossible to read even the translation of it without great emotion.

From the opening of this prophecy it is evident that the LORD was merciful as well as just in his dealing with the heathen nations. What a picture does the prophet give of the Assyrians, what comfortable hopes does he hold out to the LORD's faithful people, and in what a lively manner does he describe the process of the siege, the inundation of the river, the capture of the place, the captivity, lamentation, and flight of the inhabitants, the sacking of the wealthy city, and the consequent desolation and terror! How beautiful is the allegory that succeeds the description! Nineveh is represented as a great princess, led captive, with her maids of honour attending her, bewailing her condition, and their own, with tears and bitter lamentation. Nahum next denounced a woe against Nineveh, for her perfidy and violence. He draws forth in array before our eyes, the number of her chariots and cavalry, points to her burnished arms, and to the great and unrelenting slaughter which she spreads around her. He ascribes to her idolatry one cause of her ignominious and unpitied fall, which he compares to the dreadful destruction of No, a famous city of Egypt: he then beautifully describes the ease with which her strong holds should be taken, and her pusillanimity during the siege; pronounces that all her preparations, her numbers, opulence, and chieftains, would be of no avail; and that her tributaries would desert her. The whole concludes with declaring the incurableness of her discase, and

her

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