1:14 You made people like fish in the sea,
like animals in the sea 1 that have no ruler.
1:9 All of them intend 2 to do violence;
every face is determined. 3
They take prisoners as easily as one scoops up sand. 4
1:11 They sweep by like the wind and pass on. 5
But the one who considers himself a god will be held guilty.” 6
3:4 He is as bright as lightning; 7
a two-pronged lightning bolt flashes from his hand. 8
This is the outward display of his power. 9
2:5 Indeed, wine will betray the proud, restless man! 10
His appetite 11 is as big as Sheol’s; 12
like death, he is never satisfied.
He gathers 13 all the nations;
he seizes 14 all peoples.
3:14 You pierce the heads of his warriors 15 with a spear. 16
They storm forward to scatter us; 17
they shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition. 18
1:8 Their horses are faster than leopards
and more alert 19 than wolves in the desert. 20
Their horses 21 gallop, 22
their horses come a great distance;
like a vulture 23 they swoop down quickly to devour their prey. 24
3:19 The sovereign Lord is my source of strength. 25
He gives me the agility of a deer; 26
he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. 27
(This prayer is for the song leader. It is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.) 28
1:7 They are frightening and terrifying;
they decide for themselves what is right. 29
2:7 Your creditors will suddenly attack; 30
those who terrify you will spring into action, 31
and they will rob you. 32
2:16 But you will become drunk 33 with shame, not majesty. 34
Now it is your turn to drink and expose your uncircumcised foreskin! 35
The cup of wine in the Lord’s right hand 36 is coming to you,
and disgrace will replace your majestic glory!
1 tn The Hebrew word רֶמֶשׂ (remesh) usually refers to animals that creep, but here the referent seems to be marine animals that glide through the water (note the parallelism in the previous line). See also Ps 104:25.
2 tn Heb “come.”
3 tn Heb “The totality of their faces is to the east” (or “is forward”). The precise meaning of the Hebrew term מְגַמַּת (megammat) is unclear. For a discussion of options see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 93. NEB has “a sea of faces rolls on”; NIV “their hordes advance like a desert wind”; NRSV “with faces pressing forward.”
4 tn Heb “and he gathers like sand, prisoners.”
3 tn The precise meaning of v. 11a is uncertain. The present translation assumes the first line further describes the Babylonian hordes, comparing them to a destructive wind. Another option is to understand רוּחַ (ruakh) as “spirit,” rather than “wind,” and take the form וְאָשֵׁם (vÿ’ashem) with what precedes (as suggested by the scribal punctuation). Repointing this form as a geminate verb from שָׁמַם (shamam, “be astonished”), one could then translate the line, “The spirit passed on and departed, and I was astonished.” In this case the line would describe the cessation of the divine revelation which began in v. 5. For a detailed defense of this view, see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 97-100.
4 tn Heb “and guilty is the one whose strength is his god.” This assumes that אָשֵׁם (’ashem) is a predicate adjective meaning “guilty” and that it relates to what follows.
4 tn Heb “[His] radiance is like light.” Some see a reference to sunlight, but the Hebrew word אוֹר (’or) here refers to lightning, as the context indicates (see vv. 4b, 9, 11). The word also refers to lightning in Job 36:32 and 37:3, 11, 15.
5 tn Heb “two horns from his hand to him.” Sharp, pointed lightning bolts have a “horn-like” appearance. The weapon of “double lightning” appears often in Mesopotamian representations of gods. See Elizabeth Van Buren, Symbols of the Gods in Mesopotamian Art (AnOr), 70-73.
6 tn Heb “and there [is] the covering of his strength”; or “and there is his strong covering.” The meaning of this line is unclear. The point may be that the lightning bolts are merely a covering, or outward display, of God’s raw power. In Job 36:32 one reads that God “covers his hands with light [or, “lightning”].”
5 tn Heb “Indeed wine betrays a proud man and he does not dwell.” The meaning of the last verb, “dwell,” is uncertain. Many take it as a denominative of the noun נָוָה (navah, “dwelling place”). In this case it would carry the idea, “he does not settle down,” and would picture the drunkard as restless (cf. NIV “never at rest”; NASB “does not stay at home”). Some relate the verb to an Arabic cognate and translate the phrase as “he will not succeed, reach his goal.”
6 tn Heb “who opens wide like Sheol his throat.” Here נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is understood in a physical sense, meaning “throat,” which in turn is figurative for the appetite. See H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 11-12.
7 sn Sheol is the proper name of the subterranean world which was regarded as the land of the dead. In ancient Canaanite thought Death was a powerful god whose appetite was never satisfied. In the OT Sheol/Death, though not deified, is personified as greedy and as having a voracious appetite. See Prov 30:15-16; Isa 5:14; also see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 168.
8 tn Heb “he gathers for himself.”
9 tn Heb “he collects for himself.”
6 tn Some take “warriors” with the following line, in which case one should translate, “you pierce [his] head with a spear; his warriors storm forward to scatter us” (cf. NIV). The meaning of the Hebrew term פְּרָזוֹ (pÿrazo), translated here “his warriors,” is uncertain.
7 tc Heb “his shafts.” Some emend to “your shafts.” The translation above assumes an emendation to מַטֶּה (matteh, “shaft, spear”), the vav-yod (ו-י) sequence being a corruption of an original he (ה).
8 tn Heb “me,” but the author speaks as a representative of God’s people.
9 tn Heb “their rejoicing is like devouring the poor in secret.”
7 tn Heb “sharper,” in the sense of “keener” or “more alert.” Some translate “quicker” on the basis of the parallelism with the first line (see HALOT 291 s.v. חדד).
8 tn Heb “wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The present translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “desert”). On this phrase see also Zeph 3:3.
9 tn Or “horsemen,” “cavalry.”
10 tn The precise nuance of the rare verb פָּוַשׁ (parash) is unclear here. Elsewhere it is used of animals jumping or leaping (see Jer 50:11; Mal 4:2).
11 tn Or “eagle” (so NASB, NRSV). The term can refer to either eagles or vultures, but in this context of gruesome destruction and death “vulture” is preferred.
12 tn Heb “they fly like a vulture/an eagle quickly to devour.” The direct object “their prey” is not included in the Hebrew text but is implied, and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
8 tn Or perhaps, “is my wall,” that is, “my protector.”
9 tn Heb “he makes my feet like those of deer.”
10 tn Heb “he makes me walk on my high places.”
11 tn Heb “For the leader, on my stringed instruments.”
9 tn Heb “from him his justice, even his lifting up, goes out.” In this context שְׂאֵת (sÿ’et) probably has the nuance “authority.” See R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 150.
10 tn Heb “Will not your creditors suddenly rise up?” The rhetorical question assumes the response, “Yes, they will.” The present translation brings out the rhetorical force of the question by rendering it as an affirmation.
11 tn Heb “[Will not] the ones who make you tremble awake?”
12 tn Heb “and you will become their plunder.”
11 tn Heb “are filled.” The translation assumes the verbal form is a perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of Babylon’s coming judgment, which will reduce the majestic empire to shame and humiliation.
12 tn Or “glory.”
13 tc Heb “drink, even you, and show the foreskin.” Instead of הֵעָרֵל (he’arel, “show the foreskin”) one of the Dead Sea scrolls has הֵרָעֵל (hera’el, “stumble”). This reading also has support from several ancient versions and is followed by the NEB (“you too shall drink until you stagger”) and NRSV (“Drink, you yourself, and stagger”). For a defense of the Hebrew text, see P. D. Miller, Jr., Sin and Judgment in the Prophets, 63-64.
14 sn The Lord’s right hand represents his military power. He will force the Babylonians to experience the same humiliating defeat they inflicted on others.