[Burden]
A burden rests on Nineveh,
A vision carries Nahum's name.
The LORD is jealous over covenant,
The LORD avenges hardened shame.
[Measured Verse]
Slow to anger, great in power,
Never clearing guilt by lies.
Whirlwind road and storm-cloud pathway,
Dust of heaven beneath his stride.
[Elemental Refrain]
He rebukes the sea; its waters dry.
Bashan fades and Carmel sighs.
Lebanon's flower bends its head,
Mountains quake and hills are spread.
[Chorus]
The LORD is slow to anger,
Yet great in power when judgment wakes.
Who can stand before his fury?
Who remains when the whole earth shakes?
The LORD is good, a stronghold in trouble,
He knows every soul that trusts his name.
Flood will end the place of violence;
Darkness hunts the guilty claim.
[Bridge]
Rocks are thrown down at his coming,
Fire pours through the rooted ground.
Not because rage lost its measure,
But because cruel blood was found.
[Quiet Refrain]
The LORD is good,
A fortress in distress.
He knows the ones who seek him,
He guards them in the press.
[Final Chorus]
The LORD is slow to anger,
Yet great in power when judgment wakes.
Sea and mountain bear the witness,
Every proud foundation shakes.
The LORD is good, a stronghold in trouble,
Known by those who trust his name.
Night may close around the violent,
But refuge stands within the flame.
[Coda]
Power without haste,
Judgment without error,
Shelter for the trusting.
Named in this songNinevehNahumCarmel
About the passage
Nahum 1: The power that judges is also a refuge
Nahum 1 refuses to separate patience from judgment or refuge from power. The Lord is "slow to anger," yet wickedness is not treated as something patience will excuse forever. Sea, river, mountain, hill, rock, and inhabited earth all become measures of a presence before which ordinary stability fails. Yet the same passage calls the Lord good and a stronghold, so the refuge is not an escape from that power but security in it. The chapter then narrows from creation to Assyrian oppression. Schemes become dry stubble, numbers cannot prevent cutting down, and the yoke laid on Judah is broken. Dynasty, idols, and grave are gathered into the enemy's threatened end. The last sound is not battle but news: feet on the mountains publish peace because the power that once passed through Judah has been cut off.
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