Nahum 2
1 A crusher has come up before your face: keep a good look-out, let the way be watched, make yourself strong, let your power be greatly increased.
One who scatters advances against you, O Nineveh. Guard the fortress! Watch the road! Brace yourselves! Summon all your strength!
2 For the Lord will make good the vine of Jacob, as well as the vine of Israel: for the wasters have made them waste and sent destruction on the branches of their vine.
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.
3 The body-covers of his fighting men have been made red, the men of war are clothed in bright red: the war-carriages are like flames of fire in the day when he gets ready, the horses are shaking.
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.
4 The war-carriages are rushing through the streets, pushing against one another in the wide ways, looking like burning lights, running like thunder-flames.
The chariots dash through the streets; they rush around the plazas, appearing like torches, darting about like lightning.
5 He takes the record of his great men: they go falling on their way; they go quickly to the wall, the cover is made ready.
He summons his nobles; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place.
6 The river doorways are forced open, and the king's house is flowing away.
The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.
7 And the queen is uncovered, she is taken away and her servant-girls are weeping like the sound of doves, hammering on their breasts.
It is decreed that the city be exiled and carried away; her maidservants moan like doves, and beat upon their breasts.
8 But Nineveh is like a pool of water whose waters are flowing away; Keep your place, they say; but no one is turning back.
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.
9 Take silver, take gold; for there is no end to the store; take for yourselves a weight of things to be desired.
“Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!” There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.
10 Everything has been taken from her, all is gone, she has nothing more: the heart is turned to water, the knees are shaking, all are twisted in pain, and colour has gone from all faces.
She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!
11 Where is the lions' hole, the place where the young lions got their food, where the lion and the she-lion were walking with their young, without cause for fear?
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?
12 Food enough for his young and for his she-lions was pulled down by the lion; his hole was full of flesh and his resting-place stored with meat.
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.
13 See, I am against you, says the Lord of armies, and I will have your war-carriages burned in the smoke, and your young lions will be food for the sword: you will no longer get your food by force on the earth, and the voice of your she-lions will be stopped for ever.
“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.”
