< 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.
Come up hath a scatterer to thy 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 turned back hath Jehovah to the excellency of Jacob, As [to] the excellency of Israel, For emptied them out have emptiers, And their branches they have marred.
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 is 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 shine do the chariots, 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 doth remember his honourable ones, They stumble in their goings, They hasten [to] its wall, and prepared is the covering.
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 hath removed, She hath 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 ye, 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 ye silver, seize ye 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, yea, emptiness and waste, And the heart hath melted, And the knees have smitten 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 walked hath a lion, 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 doth fill [with] prey his holes, And his habitations [with] rapine.
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.
Lo, I [am] against thee, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts, And I have burned in smoke its chariot, And thy young lions consume doth a sword, And I have cut off from the land thy prey, And not heard any more is the voice of thy messengers!