Nahum 2
1 One who scatters advances against you, O Nineveh. Guard the fortress! Watch the road! Brace yourselves! Summon all your strength!
The destroyer is come up against thee to enclose [thee] with works of siege: look out on the way, make thy loins strong, strengthen [thyself] greatly with power.
2 For the LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and ruined the branches of their vine.
For the Lord bringeth back again the excellency of Jacob, as also the excellency of Israel; for the plunderers have plundered them, and have wasted branches of their vines.
3 The shields of his mighty men are red; the valiant warriors are dressed in scarlet. The fittings of the chariots flash like fire on the day they are prepared, and the spears of cypress have been brandished.
The shields of his mighty men are made red, the valiant men are [clothed] in scarlet: with the fire of the steel the chariots [glitter] on the day when he prepareth himself [for battle], and the spears are shaken.
4 The chariots dash through the streets; they rush around the plazas, appearing like torches, darting about like lightning.
In the streets the chariots rush madly along, they rattle through the public places: their appearance is like torches, they run along like the lightnings.
5 He summons his nobles; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place.
He will summon his valiant men, they shall stumble in their walk: they hasten to her walls, and the covering for defence is prepared.
6 The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.
The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.
7 It is decreed that the city be exiled and carried away; her maidservants moan like doves, and beat upon their breasts.
And the queen is carried away into exile stripped of her attire, and her maids moan as with the voice of doves, striking their hand upon their breast.
8 Nineveh has been like a pool of water throughout her days, but now it is draining away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back.
And Nineveh was like a pool of water from the days that she existed: yet now they flee. “Stand, stand,” [shall they cry, ] but none shall look back.
9 “Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!” There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.
Plunder silver, plunder gold; for without end are the treasures, there is an abundance of all precious vessels.
10 She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!
She is void, and emptied out, and wasted; and the heart melteth, and the knees totter, and trembling is in all loins, and the faces of them all are covered with blackness.
11 Where is the lions’ lair or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled with their cubs, with nothing to frighten them away?
Where is [now] the dwelling of the lions, and what was the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion, the lioness, and the lion's whelp walked, and none made them afraid?
12 The lion mauled enough for its cubs and strangled prey for the lioness. It filled its dens with the kill, and its lairs with mauled prey.
The lion tore in pieces [prey] enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled with prey his holes, and his dens with what he had torn.
13 “Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will send your chariots up in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.”
Behold, I will be against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will burn into smoke thy chariots, and thy young lions shall the sword devour: and I will cut off from the earth thy preying, and no more shall be heard the voice of thy messengers.
