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 your presence, watch the way, strengthen [your] loins, be very valiant in [your] strength.
[You people of] [APO] Nineveh, your enemies are coming to attack you. [So] place guards on the tops of the walls around the city! Guard the roads [into the city]! Get ready to fight! Gather your troops/soldiers [MTY] together!
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.
Even though enemy soldiers have destroyed the descendants of [MTY] Jacob, Yahweh will cause them to be honored again. Israel is like a grapevine that has been ruined, but Israel will prosper again.
3 [They have destroyed] the arms of their power from amongst 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 the enemy soldiers [who are coming to attack you] will shine red [as the sun shines on them], and they will wear bright red uniforms. The metal of their chariot [wheels] will flash when they line up [before the battle], and their soldiers will lift up their cypress/pine spears and wave them.
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.
Their chariots will dash through the streets [of Nineveh] and rush furiously through the plazas. Going as quick as lightning, they will resemble flaming torches.
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.
[Meanwhile], your king will summon his officers who will stumble as they [try to] come [quickly]. They will dash to the [city] wall, holding their shields to protect themselves.
6 The gates of the cities have been opened, and the palaces have fallen into ruin,
But, the gates [of the dams] on the rivers will be thrown open [by enemy soldiers], and [the flood will cause] the palace to collapse.
7 and the foundation has been exposed; and she has gone up, and her maidservants were led [away] as doves moaning in their hearts.
The queen will have her clothes stripped off her [by enemy soldiers], and her slave girls will moan like doves and beat their breasts [to show that they are very sad].
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.
[The people will rush from] Nineveh like [SIM] water rushes from a broken dam. [The officials] will shout, “Stop! Stop!” but the people will not even look back [as they run away].
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.
[The enemy attackers say to each other, ] “Seize the silver! Grab the gold! There is a huge amount of very valuable things in this city, more valuable things than anyone can count!”
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.
[Soon everything valuable in the city] will be seized or ruined. People will be trembling, with the result that they will not be able to fight. Their faces will all become 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?
[After that happens, people will say, ] “What happened to [RHQ] that [great city of Nineveh]? [It was like] [MET] a den [full] of young lions, where the male and female lions lived and fed the young ones.
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 soldiers in Nineveh were like] [MET] lions that killed or strangled [other animals] [and brought the meat] to their dens.”
13 Behold, I am against you, says the Lord Almighty, and I will burn up your multitude in the smoke, and the sword shall devour your lions; and I will utterly destroy your prey from off the land, and your deeds shall no more at all be heard of.
The Commander of the armies of angels says [to the people of Nineveh], “I am opposed to you; I will cause your chariots to [be burned in fires and] go up in smoke. Your young men will be killed with swords. [Your soldiers] will never again conquer [other nations] and seize their valuable possessions. Your messengers will never again take messages [to other nations, demanding that their armies surrender to them].”
