Nahum warns Nineveh
An EasyEnglish (1200 word vocabulary) Bible text with comments on the Book of Nahum
Michelle Straw
Words in boxes are comments on the verses. The translated Bible text has yet to go through Advanced Checking.
A word list at the end explains words with a *star by them.
Nahum is telling the people of Nineveh (the Assyrians) that God will *punish them for doing wrong things. They are enemies of Israel and Judah and have hurt the people of God as well as people from other countries. Now God is going to *punish them for all the wrong that they have done. Until now, he has been very patient. We can read about this in the book of Jonah. But now he is very angry with the people of Nineveh.
v1 Nahum lives in Elkosh (in Judah) and this is his *prophecy about the people of Nineveh. v2 God is angry with the people of Nineveh. The *Lord loves his people. He makes good rules to help us be good people. But he is very angry with his enemies. He is so angry with them that he must *punish them. He stays angry until he has killed his enemies. v3 The *Lord will *punish those who do wrong but he does not get angry quickly. He is a powerful God. The *Lord does not get angry quickly. But when he is angry, he *punishes those who do wrong.
Then he is very powerful. You can see his power in the whirlwind (a very strong wind that moves in a circle) and the storm. The clouds are like the dirt from his feet.
v4 He can make the sea and the rivers become dry with one word. The fertile places (land where you can grow lots of plants for food) of Bashan and Carmel dry up and the green forests of Lebanon die too. v5 He makes the mountains *shake and the hills become flat. The earth and all the people in the world are afraid of God.
v6 Nobody can fight God when he is very angry. The *Lord pours his *anger out like fire and breaks the rocks in his path. v7 The *Lord loves those who believe him. When they are in trouble, they can put their hope in God. v8 But the people of Nineveh are his enemies and he will kill them. v9 He will stop their plans at once. v10 When he kills them it will be as if they are caught in thorny bushes (a plant with sharp bits) or they have drunk too much alcohol. v11 The *Lord tells the king of Nineveh that he has done bad things against God and has told his people to do wrong things.
v12 Judah, my people, the Assyrians are many and they feel safe. But I will kill them. I have *punished you in the past but now I will end your *punishment. v13 Now I will free you from the people of Nineveh and break the irons that hold you.
v14 Nineveh, the *Lord has said what will happen to you. You will have no children and your family name will end. I will destroy the *statues made of wood and metal that you *worship in your *temples. There I will make graves (a place in the ground to put dead people) for you because you are bad.
v15 Judah, look at the mountains. You will see the feet of the person who will bring good news. He brings peace (when we do not fight God or other people). You can have *religious parties and keep your promises to me now. The bad people will not win a war against you because I will kill them.
God has used armies to *punish his people. This is because they have not listened to him. And because they have not done what he says. One of those armies came from Nineveh. Now God will help his people. God will use armies to *punish the people of Nineveh because they have been so cruel and bad.
v1 An enemy is going to attack you, people of Nineveh. Watch the *fortress. Prepare your army to *defend the city. Watch the road. Get ready.
v2 Armies have destroyed the lands of Jacob and Israel. They have destroyed their grape plants (a fruit). But, the *Lord will make Israel and Jacob great again.
v3 The soldiers have red *shields and bright red clothes. The horses jump. The metal on their *chariots is very bright. v4 When the soldiers are ready for war they move fast through the streets. Their *chariots move like torches of fire (sticks with fire at the end to give light) and lightning (a bright light in a storm). v5 The king of Nineveh chooses his best soldiers but they fall on the way. They hurry to their city wall to prepare their *defences. v6 But their enemies open the river gates. Then the water goes into the city and destroys the *palace. v7 The enemy tells its army to take the *idol from Nineveh. Her women cry like doves (a bird) and beat their chests (top part of the body).
The meaning here is not clear. Perhaps enemies have destroyed the city and the women of the town are crying. Or perhaps the *idol is taken away and the slave girls or the women that wait on the *idol are crying.
v8 Nineveh is like a pool. Its water runs away. ‘Stop, stop!’ they cry, but no one comes back.
v9 Take the silver (a metal like gold). Take the gold. The city has so many riches.
All the people of Nineveh run away to different places. Some of them try to stop the water but they fail. This is because the people of this city have no love for each other. They only came to live there because of the great riches taken from other countries.
v10 They take the riches from the city. They take everything that they can and destroy the rest. The people are very sad. Their knees and bodies *shake. Their faces become white because they are afraid. v11 Where is the home of the *lions? Where is the place where they fed their young *lions? This was the place where the *lion and the *lioness went. It is here where their young *lions were not afraid. v12 The *lion killed to give enough food to his young *lions and *strangled animals to feed his mate (the female *lion). He filled his home with the animals he had killed.
v13 The *Lord says, ‘I am against you. I will burn your *chariots and the *sword will kill your young *lions. I will take away all the animals that you attack. No one will hear the voices of your messengers (people who have something to tell other people).’
The people of Nineveh were strong and cruel like *lions. But Nahum tells them that God will be strong and cruel to them. God will attack the people of Nineveh because they have attacked many countries.
v1 You will have many troubles Nineveh, city of blood, full of lies and *stolen riches. v2 Listen to the loud noises of the whips (often used to hit horses to make them go faster), the *chariots, the *wheels and the feet of the horses. The *chariots are moving fast towards Nineveh. v3 See the bright *swords and *spears in the hands of the horsemen (people who ride horses). There are dead people lying in the streets, mountains of dead bodies everywhere. There are so many dead bodies that men fall over the bodies. v4 This is because Nineveh has sold herself to the enemies of God. She is like a beautiful prostitute (a woman who sells her body to men for pleasure). She uses her body and her bad *magic to make other countries her slaves
v5 This is why I am against you, says the great *Lord. I will lift your skirt over your face. I will show the countries your nakedness (that you are wearing no clothes). v6 I will throw garbage at you. I will do with you as if you were nothing and make everyone ashamed of you. v7 When people see you, they will run away and say, ‘They have destroyed Nineveh. Who will be sad?’ There will be no one to help you.
v8 Remember the city of Thebes near the Nile river. She has water on all sides and has the river as her wall. v9 The countries of Cush and Egypt were strong friends and so were Put and Libya.
v10 But her enemies took her people away and made them slaves. They cut her babies to pieces in every street. They played games with her great men and put them in irons. v11 You will be drunk and try to hide. You will try to get help from your enemy. v12 All your *fortresses are like fig (a fruit) trees. They will fall very easily when the enemies *shake them and the figs will fall into their mouths. v13 Look at your soldiers, they are all women! The enemy has burned your gates and pushed them wide open.
v14 Take as much water as you can for the attack. Make your *defences strong. Make repairs to your buildings. v15 The fire will burn you; the *sword will cut you and kill you like grasshoppers (insects). Grow in number like the grasshoppers and locusts (insects).
v16 You welcomed sellers into your city until there were more than the number of the *stars in the sky. But they are like locusts. They take everything from the land and then fly away. v17 Your army and *officials are so many that they are like locusts. They stay on the walls on a cold day, but when the sun comes out, they fly away and no one knows where they go.
v18 King of Assyria, the people who care for your people are asleep. Also, your powerful men are lying down to rest. Your people have run away to the mountains with no one to look after them.
v19 Your *wounds will kill you. They are too bad to make better. Everyone who hears what happens to you is so happy that they clap their hands (they put their hands together to make a noise). This is because you have done bad things to all of them.
The Assyrians are very rich and powerful. They are also very cruel. Nineveh is their capital. They have attacked many countries including Israel and Judah. Nineveh has become rich and powerful because they killed people.
Nahum tells Nineveh and the people of God that this will stop. God will save his people and he will destroy Nineveh.
Today, we know that the Babylonians did destroy Nineveh. This happened 612 years before Jesus came.
anger ~ when someone is angry they have anger.
chariot ~ a box that soldiers use to fight. Horses pull it.
defences ~ people made these to hide behind and to hide them from their enemies.
defend ~ to fight for your life or the lives of other people.
fortress ~ a place where armies watch for their enemies.
garbage ~ old bad food.
idol ~ something that we love when we should love God.
lioness ~ a female *lion.
lion ~ a wild animal.
Lord ~ name for God or Jesus in the Bible.
magic ~ to make strange things happen to surprise people. These things are not usual. Magic is very bad and is not from God.
official ~ a man who works for the king.
palace ~ a building where the king lives.
punish ~ to hurt someone for the wrong things that they have done. For example, a person that has killed another person must go to prison.
punishment ~ see *punish.
prophecy ~ words from God that tell of things before they happen.
religious ~ something that people do as part of the *worship of God.
shake ~ move from one side to another and back again very fast many times.
shield ~ a soldier holds this over himself to stop things that would hit him.
spear ~ a long stick with a knife at the top to throw at enemies.
statue ~ a person or animal that someone made out of metal or wood.
strangled ~ a way to kill something by attacking its neck.
stolen ~ it belongs to someone but you have taken it.
sword ~ a long metal knife to attack enemies.
temple ~ a special building where people go pray to their gods.
wheel ~ *chariots and cars all need these to move.
worship ~ to show God that we love him very much.
wounds ~ bad places where someone has hurt you.
© 1999-2002, Wycliffe Associates (UK)
This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level A (1200 words)
February 2001
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