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.

A scatterer has come up to your face, Keep the bulwark, watch the way, Strengthen the loins, strengthen power mightily.

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 YHWH has turned back to the excellence of Jacob, As [to] the excellence of Israel, For emptiers have emptied them out, And they have marred their branches.

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 shield of his mighty ones has become red, Men of might [are in] scarlet, With fiery torches [is] the chariot in a day of his preparation, And the firs have been caused to tremble.

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.

In out-places the chariots shine, They go to and fro in broad places, Their appearances [are] like torches, As lightnings they run.

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 remembers his majestic ones, They stumble in their goings, They hurry [to] its wall, And the covering is prepared.

6 The gates of the cities have been opened, and the palaces have fallen into ruin,

Gates of the rivers have been opened, And the palace is dissolved.

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.

And it is established—she has removed, She has been brought up, And her handmaids are leading as the voice of doves, Tabering on their hearts.

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.

And Nineveh [is] as a pool of waters, From of old it [is]—and they are fleeing! “Stand, stand”; and none is turning!

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.

Seize silver, seize gold, And there is no end to the prepared things, [To] the abundance of all desirable vessels.

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.

She is empty, indeed, emptiness and waste, And the heart has melted, And the knees have struck together, And great pain [is] in all loins, And the faces of all of them have gathered paleness.

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 [is] the habitation of lionesses? And a feeding-place it [is] for young lions Where a lion has walked, an old lion, A lion’s whelp, and there is none troubling.

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 is tearing parts [for] his whelps, And is strangling for his lionesses, And he fills his holes [with] prey, And his habitations [with] torn flesh.

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.

“Behold, I [am] against you,” A declaration of YHWH of Hosts, “And I have burned its chariot in smoke, And a sword consumes your young lions, And I have cut off your prey from the land, And the voice of your messengers is not heard anymore!”