Nahum 2
1 He who dashes in pieces has come up against thee. Keep the fortress. Watch the way. Make thy loins strong. Fortify thy power mightily.
A scatterer has come up to your face, Keep the bulwark, watch the way, Strengthen the loins, strengthen power mightily.
2 For Jehovah restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel, for the emptiers have emptied them out, and destroyed their vine-branches.
For YHWH has turned back to the excellence of Jacob, As [to] the excellence of Israel, For emptiers have emptied them out, And they have marred their branches.
3 The shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the cypress spears are brandished.
The shield of his mighty ones has become red, Men of might [are in] scarlet, With fiery torches [is] the chariot in a day of his preparation, And the firs have been caused to tremble.
4 The chariots rage in the streets; they rush to and fro in the broad ways. The appearance of them is like torches. They run like the lightnings.
In out-places the chariots shine, They go to and fro in broad places, Their appearances [are] like torches, As lightnings they run.
5 He remembers his nobles. They stumble in their march. They make haste to the wall of it, and the mantelet is prepared.
He remembers his majestic ones, They stumble in their goings, They hurry [to] its wall, And the covering is prepared.
6 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.
Gates of the rivers have been opened, And the palace is dissolved.
7 And it is decreed. She is uncovered. She is carried away, and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, beating upon their breasts.
And it is established—she has removed, She has been brought up, And her handmaids are leading as the voice of doves, Tabering on their hearts.
8 But Nineveh has been from of old like a pool of water. Yet they flee away. Stand, stand, they cry, but none looks back.
And Nineveh [is] as a pool of waters, From of old it [is]—and they are fleeing! “Stand, stand”; and none is turning!
9 Take ye the spoil of silver. Take the spoil of gold. For there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture.
Seize silver, seize gold, And there is no end to the prepared things, [To] the abundance of all desirable vessels.
10 She is empty, and void, and waste. And the heart melts, and the knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all have grown pale.
She is empty, indeed, emptiness and waste, And the heart has melted, And the knees have struck together, And great pain [is] in all loins, And the faces of all of them have gathered paleness.
11 Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?
Where [is] the habitation of lionesses? And a feeding-place it [is] for young lions Where a lion has walked, an old lion, A lion’s whelp, and there is none troubling.
12 The lion tore in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with prey, and his dens with prey.
The lion is tearing parts [for] his whelps, And is strangling for his lionesses, And he fills his holes [with] prey, And his habitations [with] torn flesh.
13 Behold, I am against thee, says Jehovah 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 thy messengers shall no more be heard.
“Behold, I [am] against you,” A declaration of YHWH of Hosts, “And I have burned its chariot in smoke, And a sword consumes your young lions, And I have cut off your prey from the land, And the voice of your messengers is not heard anymore!”
