Nahum 2
1 A scatterer has come up to your face, Keep the bulwark, watch the way, Strengthen the loins, strengthen power mightily.
The one who will dash you to pieces is coming up against you. Man the city walls, guard the roads, make yourselves strong, assemble your armies.
2 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.
For Yahweh is restoring the majesty of Jacob, like the majesty of Israel, although the plunderers devastated them and destroyed their vine branches.
3 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.
The shields of his mighty men are red, and the soldiers are clothed in scarlet; the chariots flash with their metal on the day that they are made ready, and the cypress spears are waved in the air.
4 In out-places the chariots shine, They go to and fro in broad places, Their appearances [are] like torches, As lightnings they run.
The chariots speed through the streets; they rush back and forth in the wide streets. They look like torches, and they run like lightning.
5 He remembers his majestic ones, They stumble in their goings, They hurry [to] its wall, And the covering is prepared.
The one who will dash you to pieces calls his officers; they stumble over each other in their march; they hurry to attack the city wall. The large shield is made ready to protect these attackers.
6 Gates of the rivers have been opened, And the palace is dissolved.
The gates at the rivers are forced open, and the palace falls to ruins.
7 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.
Huzzab is stripped of her clothes and is taken away; her female servants moan like doves, beating on their breasts.
8 And Nineveh [is] as a pool of waters, From of old it [is]—and they are fleeing! “Stand, stand”; and none is turning!
Nineveh is like a leaking pool of water, with its people fleeing away like rushing water. Others shout, “Stop, stop,” but no one looks back.
9 Seize silver, seize gold, And there is no end to the prepared things, [To] the abundance of all desirable vessels.
Take the silver plunder, take the gold plunder, for there is no end to it, to the splendor of all Nineveh's beautiful things.
10 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.
Nineveh is empty and ruined. Everyone's heart melts, everyone's knees strike together, and anguish is in everyone; their faces are all pale.
11 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.
Where now is the lions' den, the place where the young lion cubs were fed, the place where the lion and lioness walked, with the cubs, where they were afraid of nothing?
12 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.
The lion tore his victims to pieces for his cubs; he strangled victims for his lionesses, and filled his cave with victims, his dens with torn carcasses.
13 “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!”
“See, I am against you—this is the declaration of Yahweh of hosts. I will burn your chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from your land, and the voices of your messengers will be heard no more.”
