Nahum, in The Douay Old Testament (1609–1610)

The prophecy of Nahum against Ninive. This is Nahum as it stands in the second tome of the Douay Old Testament (Doway: Laurence Kellam, 1610), the English College of Douai’s Catholic translation from the Latin Vulgate, in its original spelling. The page gives every chapter with its printed summary, the verse text and the marginal notes.

THE PROPHECIE OF NAHVM.

NAHVM borne in Elceſe a towne in Galiley, prophecied shortly [Margin: S. Ierom. Epiſt ad Paulin.] [Margin: Nahum prophecied about 50. yeares after Ionas, ⟨illegible⟩ere 135. before the deſtruction of Niniue.] after the captiuitie of the tenne tribes, againſt Niniue, about fiftie yeares after Ionas preaching, and their repentance; when they became more wicked then before: foreshewing their vtter ruine, and ignominie. In figure of the deſtruction of idolatrie in al nations, by Chriſt euangelizing and announcing peace, to al that wil beleue in him.

Chapter 1

CHAP. 1. Niniue shal be deſtroyed not able to eſcape Gods powreful wrath. 9. The Aſſtrians shal not preuaile againſt Ieruſalem: 13. but themſelves shal be ſlaine.

1 THE [a] burden of Niniuie. The booke of the viſion of Nahum the Elce⟨illegible⟩e⟨illegible⟩te.

2 God is ielous, & our Lord reuenging, our Lord reuenging, and hauing furie: our Lord reuenging on his aduerſeries, and he is angrie with his enemies.

3 Our Lord is patient, and great of ſtrength and clenſing, he wil not make innocent. Our Lords wayes in tempeſt, and whirle wind, and clowdes the duſt of his feete.

4 Rebuking the ſea, and driyng it vp: and bringing al riuers to a deſert. Baſan is weakened and Carmel: & the floure of Libanus is faided.

5 The mountaines were moued at him, and the hilles were deſolate: and the earth hath trembled at his preſence, and the world, and al that dwel therin.

6 Befote the face of his indignation who shal ſtand? and who shal reſiſt in the wrath of his furie? his indignation is powred out as fire: and the rockes are diſſolued by him.

7 Our Lord is good, and ſtrenghning in the day of tribulation: and knowing them that hope in him.

8 And in a floud paſſing by, he wil make a conſummation of the place therof: & darkenes shal purſew his enemies.

9 VVhat thinke ye againſt our Lord? conſumation he wil make: there shal not riſe duble tribulation.

10 Becauſe as thornes claſpe one an other: ſo [b] the feaſt of them that drinke together: they shal be conſumed as ſtuble ful of drienes.

11 Out of thee shal come forth one that thinketh malice againſt our Lord in the minde deuiſing preuarication.

12–13 Thus ſaith our Lord: If they shal be perfect: and ſo a grear manie, ſo alſo shal they be shorne, and he shal paſſe by: I haue afflicted thee, and I wil afflict thee no more. And now I wil breake his rod from of thy backe, and I wil burſt thy bondes in ſunder.

14 And Our Lord wil command vpon thee, there [c] shal not be ſowen of thy name any more: out of the houſe of thy God I wil deſtroy ſculptil, & molten, I wil put thy graue, becauſe thou art dishonored.

15 Behold vpon the mountaines the feete of him that Euangalizeth, and preacheth peace: celebrate ô Iuda thy feſtiuities, & render thy vowes: becauſe Belial shal no more adde to paſſe through thee, he is wholly perished.

Marginal notes to Chapter 1

• 1 [a] Burden ſignifieth comminatorie & pen ſiue prophecie of ruine and puniſhment. Allegorically Nahum according to his name, comforteth the iuſt, ſhevving that God vvil reuenge them by deſtroying Niniue the beautiful great citie, that is, the terreſtrial vvorld called coſmos beautful, and then reward his Sainctes in eternal glorie.
• 10 [b] The Aſſirians accounting themſelues aſſured to take and ſpoile Ieruſalem, and therupon banketting and drinking were defeated al in one night.
• 14 [c] To Senacherib ſucceded his ſorne Aſar haddon, but preſently after the vvhole lineage vvas deſtroyed ⟨illegible⟩g ⟨illegible⟩.
• 15 Iſa. 52▪ Rom. 10.

Chapter 2

CHAP. II. The Chaldees shal mightely inuade the Aſſirians, 5. take and ranſacke Niniue.

1 HE is come vp that [a] shal ſcatter before thee, that shal keepe the ſeige: behold the way, fortifie the loynes, ſtrengthen force excedingly.

2 Becauſe our Lord hath rendered [b] the pride of Iacob, as the pride of Iſrael: becauſe the waters haue diſſipated them, and haue marred their branches.

3 The buckler of his valiants fyrie, the men of the armie in ſcarlets, the raynes of the chariot fyrie in the day of his preparation, and the driuers are brought aſleepe.

4 In the wayes they are trubled, the chariots ſtrooke one agaynſtan other in the ſtreetes: their appearance are as it were lampes, as it were lightning running to and fro.

5 He wil remember his valiants, they shal fal in their wayes: they shal quickly ſcale the walles therof, and a bowre shal be prepared.

6 The gates of the riuers are opened, and the temple throwen downe to the ground.

7 And the ſouldiar is led away captiue: and her handmayds were led away mourning as doues, murmuring in their hartes.

8 And Niniue [c] her waters as it were a fiſhpoole of waters: but themſelues are fled [d] Stand ſtand, & there is none that wil returne.

9 Spoile the ſiluer, ſpoile the gold: and there is no end of the riches of al veſſels that are to be deſired.

10 She is diſſipated, and rent, and torne: and pyning hart, and diſſolution of the knees, and defect in al reynes: and the faces of them al as the blacknes of a pot.

11 [e] VVhere is the habitation of lions, & the paſture of lions welps, to which the lion went, to goe in thither, the lions whelpe, and is there none to make them afrayd?

12 The lion hath caught ſufficiently for his welpes, and hath killed for his lioneſſes: and he hath filled his dennes with praye, and his couch with rauening.

13 Behold I to thee, ſaith the Lord of hoſts, and I wil burne thy chariots euen to ſmoke, and the ſword shal eate thy litle lions: and I wil deſtroy thy praye out of the land, and the voice of thy meſſengers shal be heard no more.

Marginal notes to Chapter 2

• 1 [a] Nabuchodo noſor muading the territorie of Niniue vvaſted al thinges, and then aſſaulted and tooke the citie.
• 2 [b] The Aſſirians became more proud and inſolent after they had ſpoiled the tvvo tribes & caried the ten into captiuitie and therfore God vvil novv reuenge this pride.
• 8 [c] The people of Niniue, vvhen the wal of the citie ſhal once be broken by the enemies, vvil flee away as vvater runneth out of a pond, or fiſhpoole, vvhen the banke is broken
• 8 [d] Although ſome of more corege wil exhortethe fugitiues to ſtay, and ſight for their citie, it vvil not auaile, becauſe the moſt part vvil ſeeke to eſcape by running avvay.
• 9 Iſa. 2.
• 11 [e] The king of Aſſirians like a furious lion gathered praye out of al countries, and brought it into Niniue as into his denne, but at laſt ſhal be ſpoyled of al.

Chapter 3

CHAP. III. A deſcription of Niniues ruine, 5. made ignominious to al nations: 17. forraine ſouldiars fleing away, and al their owne terrified.

1 VVO to thee ô citie [a] of blouds, al of lying ful of tearing: ſpoile shal not depart from thee.

2 The voice of the whippe, and the voice of the violence of the wheele, & of the neighing horſe, and of the feruent chariot, and of the horſman mounting.

3 And of the gliſtering ſword, and of the glittering ſpeare, and of a multitude ſlaine, and of a greuous ruine: neither is there an end of corſes, and they shal fal on their bodies.

4 Becauſe of the multitude of the fornications, of the harlot beautiful & grateful, and hauing ſorceries, which hath ſold nations in her fornications, & families in her ſorceries.

5 Behold I to thee, ſayth the Lord of hoſts: and I wil diſcouer thy priuie parts in thy face, and wil shew to the Gentils thy nakednes, & to kingdoms thine ignominie.

6 And I wil throw vpon thee abominations, and wil vſe thee contumeliouſly, and wil put thee for an example.

7 And it shal be, euerie one that shal ſee thee, shal leape backe from thee, and shal ſay: Niniue is waſted: who shal shake the head vpon thee? whence shal I ſeeke a cōforter for thee?

8 Why, art thou better then [b] Alexandria ful of peoples, which dwelleth in the riuers? waters round about it: whoſe riches, the ſea: waters the walles therof.

9 Aethiopia the ſtrength of it, and Aegypt, & there is no end: Afrike, and the Libyans haue bene in thine ayde.

10 But she alſo in tranſmigration was led into captiuitie: her litle ones were dashed in the head of al wayes, and vpon her noble ones, they haue caſt lot, and al her great men were made faſt in fetters.

11 Thou alſo therfore shalt be made drunke, and shal be deſpiſed: and thou shalt ſeeke helpe of the enemie.

12 Al thy munitions as figtrees with their grene figges: if they be shaken, they wil fal into the mouth of the eater.

13 Behold thy people wemen in the middes of thee: to thine enimies the gates of thy land with opening shal be opened, fyre shal deuoure thy barres.

14 Draw thee water for the ſiege, build thy munitions: enter into the clay, and tread, making morter hold the bricke.

15 There the fyre shal eate thee: thou shalt perish by the ſword, as a bruke it shal deuoure thee: be gathered together as the bruke, be multiplied as the locuſt.

16 Thou haſt made thy merchandiſes more then are the ſtarres of heauen: the bruke was ſpred, & flew away.

17 Thy kepers as the locuſts: & thy litle ones as it were the locuſts of locuſts, which ſwarme on the hedges in the day of could: the ſunne aroſe, & they flew away, and their place was not knowen where they were.

18 Thy paſtours ſlumbred, ô King of Aſſur, thy princes shal be buried thy people lay hid in the mountaynes, and there is none to gather them together.

19 Thy deſtruction is not obſcure, thy plague is very ſore: al that haue heard the fame of thee, haue clapped the hand vpon thee: for vpon whom hath not thy malice paſſed alwayes?

Marginal notes to Chapter 3

• 1 [a] Nemrod beganne vvith ſheeding bloud to make himſelf great. Gen 10. ſo Ninus who built Niniue, and their ſucceſſors vvere ſtil very bloudie, and otherwiſe wicked, but at laſt after 1200 yeares, vnder Sardanapalus their Monarchie decayed much, as moſt vvriters both Greke & Latin teſtifie, but yet continued longer & floriſhed againe as Doctor Ribera ſhevveth by the holie Scriptures, & continued in al from Ninus time til it vvas deſtroyed by the Chaldees, about 1440. yeares, yea & vvas repayred againe & vvas great after the relaxation of the Ievves from captiuitie. As Euſebius. S. Auguſtin. S. Beda and others vvrite.
• 1 Bzee. 14. Habac. 2.
• 5 Iſa. 47.
• 8 [b] This citie was firſt called No, but being deſtroyed by the Chaldees, and reedified by K. Alexander vvas then called by his name. S. Ierom.

Colophon

The holie Bible faithfully translated into English, out of the authentical Latin. Diligently conferred with the Hebrew, Greeke, and other editions in diuers languages. With arguments of the bookes, and chapters: annotations. tables: and other helpes. By the English College of Doway. The second tome (Psalms to 2 Machabees, with the Prayer of Manasses and the third and fourth books of Esdras), Doway: Laurence Kellam, 1610 (STC 2207). Copy: Henry E. Huntington Library, as reproduced in Early English Books Online (image set 2087).

Transcription: Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP), Phase I text A11777 (2007), released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal public-domain dedication.

This is an archival transcription, not a Good Works Translation: the English is the Douay translators’ own, kept in the original spelling, with long s (ſ), u and v, i and j as printed. The Good Works Library converted the TCP text to this page, removing only markup, page breaks and line-end hyphens. In the print a cross (†) opens each verse and the verse number stands in the margin; here each verse is its own paragraph headed by that number. Marginal notes are gathered after each chapter under the number of the verse beside which they stand; where the print sets a reference mark in the text (a letter, four pricks ::, or a star *), the mark is kept at its place in square brackets. In prose sections the marginal notes stand at their places in square brackets. Marks that the transcription records in the text are kept as they stand: ▪ is the transcribers’ sign for a printed mark they could not set, which this edition’s key to its marks uses to point to an Annotation after the chapter, and “ is another such printed mark. Words the transcribers could not read are marked ⟨illegible⟩ (5 on this page); none has been filled in by conjecture.

In 1 place on this page the transcription has no verse cross between two numbered verses; there both numbers head a single paragraph (for example “12–13”) rather than cutting the text by guesswork.

🌲