Nahum 2
1 One who scatters advances against you, O Nineveh. Guard the fortress! Watch the road! Brace yourselves! Summon all your strength!
He that breaketh in pieces hath come up over thy face, Keep the keeps, —watch the way, brace the loins, make vigour very firm.
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 Yahweh hath restored the excellency of Jacob, like the excellency of Israel, —for the plunderers have plundered them, and, their vine branches, have they marred.
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 shield of his heroes, is made red, the men of war, are clad in crimson, on fire, are the chariot-steels, on the day he maketh ready, —and, the lances, are put in motion.
4 The chariots dash through the streets; they rush around the plazas, appearing like torches, darting about like lightning.
In the streets, madly go the chariots, they rush along in the broadways, —their appearance, is like torches, as lightnings, hither and thither do they run.
5 He summons his nobles; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place.
Let him call to mind his nobles, they shall stumble as they go—let them hasten to her wall, yet the storming cover, is prepared.
6 The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.
The gates of the rivers, have been opened, —and, the palace, doth quake.
7 It is decreed that the city be exiled and carried away; her maidservants moan like doves, and beat upon their breasts.
And, Huzzab, hath been taken captive—hath been led up, —and, her handmaids, are making a moan like the sound of doves, as they taber upon their heart.
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.
Yet, as for Nineveh, like a reservoir of waters, are her waters, —but, those men, are in flight! Stand! stand! but no one is turning.
9 “Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!” There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.
Plunder silver, plunder gold, —and there is no end to the costly furnishing, rich with every article of delight.
10 She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!
Emptiness, yea turned to emptiness, aye deserted [is she]! with, heart, unnerved, and, a tottering, of knees, and, anguish, in all loins, and, the faces of them all, have withdrawn their colour.
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 the lair of the lions? Yea the very feeding-place of the young lions, —where walked the lion, the lioness, the lion’s whelp, with none to make 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, used to tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and to strangle for his lionesses, —and then fill with prey his holes, and his lairs 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 me! against thee, Declareth Yahweh of hosts, Therefore will I burn up in smoke her chariots, and, thy young lions, shall be devoured by the sword, —so will I cut off, out of the earth, thy prey, nor shall be heard any more, the voice of thine envoy.
