Naum 2
1 It is all over with him, he has been removed, [one] who has been delivered from affliction has come up panting into thy presence, watch the way, strengthen [thy] loins, be very valiant in [thy] strength.
The one who scatters has come to attack you! Guard the fortresses! Watch the roads! Get yourselves ready! Call every soldier out!
2 For the Lord has turned aside the pride of Jacob, as the pride of Israel: for they have utterly rejected them, and have destroyed their branches.
(For the Lord will restore the splendor of the people of Jacob as he will restore the splendor of Israel, for invaders have plundered them, and destroyed their land.)
3 [They have destroyed] the arms of their power from among men, their mighty men sporting with fire: the reins of their chariots [shall be destroyed] in the day of his preparation, and the horsemen shall be thrown into confusion
The shields of his chief soldiers are red; the warriors wear scarlet. His chariots flash like fire in the sunlight as he prepares for battle. Spears with their wooden shafts are held up and shaken.
4 in the ways, and the chariots shall clash together, and shall be entangled in each other in the broad ways: their appearance is as lamps of fire, and as gleaming lightnings.
Chariots race madly through the streets, rushing back and forth across the town squares. Bright as torches, they dash like lightning flashes.
5 And their mighty men shall bethink themselves and flee by day; and they shall be weak as they go; and they shall hasten to her walls, and shall prepare their defences.
He shouts orders to his officers. They stumble as they rush to attack the wall. The battering ram is set up.
6 The gates of the cities have been opened, and the palaces have fallen into ruin,
The river gates are opened; the palace washes away.
7 and the foundation has been exposed; and she has gone up, and her maid-servants were led [away] as doves moaning in their hearts.
“Queen” Nineveh is stripped, and led away into exile, with her servant girls mourning like doves, and beating their breasts.
8 And [as for] Nineve, her waters [shall be] as a pool of water: and they fled, and staid not, and there was none to look back.
Nineveh is a leaky pool—its population is like water running away. “Stop! Stop” people shout, but nobody turns back.
9 They plundered the silver, they plundered the gold, and there was no end of their adorning; they were loaded [with it] upon all their pleasant vessels.
Loot the silver! Loot the gold! There's an endless supply—an abundance of everything you could ever want.
10 [There is] thrusting forth, and shaking, and tumult, and heart-breaking, and loosing of knees, and pangs on all loins; and the faces of all [are] as the blackening of a pot.
Deserted, destroyed, devastated! Hearts faint, knees tremble, stomachs ache. Everyone's faces turn pale.
11 Where is the dwelling-place of the lions, and the pasture that belonged to the whelps? where did the lion go, that the lion's whelp should enter in there, and there was none to scare [him] away?
Where now is the lion's den? Where is the place where the young lions used to feed? Where is the lion, and the lioness, and the lion cub that were afraid of no one?
12 The lion seized enough prey for his whelps, and strangled for his [young] lions, and filled his lair with prey, and his dwelling-place with spoil.
The lion tears apart meat for his cubs, and strangles prey for his lionesses. He fills his den with prey, his lair with carcasses.
13 Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord Almighty, and I will burn up thy multitude in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy lions; and I will utterly destroy thy prey from off the land, and thy deeds shall no more at all be heard of.
Watch out! For I am against you, declares the Lord Almighty. I will set fire to your chariots and they will go up in smoke. Your strong young men will be killed by the sword. I will stop you plundering other peoples. The demands of your ambassadors will no longer be heard.
