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.
The ravager cometh up against thee, [[O Nineveh!]] Guard the fortress; watch the way; Gird up the loins; confirm the 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 Jehovah restoreth the glory of Jacob, As the glory of Israel; For the wasters have wasted them, And destroyed their branches.
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; His warriors are clothed in crimson; His chariots glitter with the fire of steel in the day of his preparation, And the spears are 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 rave in the streets; They run to and fro in the broad ways; Their appearance is like torches; They run like lightnings.
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 calleth for his mighty men; They stumble on their way; They hasten to the wall; But the mantelet is prepared,
6 The river doorways are forced open, and the king's house is flowing away.
The gates of rivers are opened, And the palace melteth away.
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.
Huzzab is uncovered; she is carried away captive, Her maidservants sigh with the voice of doves, And smite 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 was like a pool full of water of old; Yet shall they flee away; Stand! stand! shall they cry; But none shall look back.
9 Take silver, take gold; for there is no end to the store; take for yourselves a weight of things to be desired.
Seize the silver; seize the gold; There is no end to the treasures; There is abundance of all precious furniture.
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 hath become void, and empty, and desolate; The heart melteth, and the knees smite together; Pangs are in all their loins, And the faces of all gather blackness.
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 now is the dwelling of the lions, And the feeding-place of the young lions, Where the lion and the lioness walked, And the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?
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 tore in pieces for his whelps, And strangled for his lionesses, And filled his dens with prey, And his lairs with ravin.
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 thee, saith Jehovah of hosts, And I will burn thy chariots into 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.
