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.

He who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress! Watch the way! Strengthen your waist! Fortify your 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 the LORD restores the excellency of Jacob as the excellency of Israel, for the destroyers have destroyed them and ruined their vine branches.

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 shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the pine spears are brandished.

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.

The chariots rage in the streets. They rush back and forth in the wide ways. Their appearance is like torches. They run like the lightnings.

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 summons his picked troops. They stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in place.

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

The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.

7 and the foundation has been exposed; and she has gone up, and her maidservants were led [away] as doves moaning in their hearts.

It is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her servants moan as with the voice of doves, beating on 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.

But Nineveh has been from of old like a pool of water, yet they flee away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one looks 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.

Take the plunder of silver. Take the plunder of gold, for there is no end of treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.

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, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown 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 is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked with the lion’s cubs, and no one made them afraid?

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 tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled prey for his lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill and his dens with prey.

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.

“Behold, I am against you,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions; and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.”