Nahum 2

1 A maul is come up before thy face; guard the defences, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily! —

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.

2 For the LORD restoreth the pride of Jacob, as the pride of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine-branches. —

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.

3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet; the chariots are fire of steel in the day of his preparation, and the cypress spears are made to quiver.

[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

4 The chariots rush madly in the streets, they jostle one against another in the broad places; the appearance of them is like torches, they run to and fro like the lightnings.

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.

5 He bethinketh himself of his worthies; they stumble in their march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the mantelet is prepared.

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.

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

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

7 And the queen is uncovered, she is carried away, and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.

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

8 But Nineveh hath been from of old like a pool of water; yet they flee away; 'Stand, stand'; but none looketh back.

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.

9 Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold; for there is no end of the store, rich with all precious vessels.

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.

10 She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and convulsion is in all loins, and the faces of them all have gathered blackness.

[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.

11 Where is the den of the lions, which was the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?

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?

12 The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with prey, and his dens with ravin.

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.

13 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions; and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.

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.