Nahum 2
1 A scatterer has come up to your face, Keep the bulwark, watch the way, Strengthen the loins, strengthen power mightily.
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 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 restores the excellency of Jacob as the excellency of Israel, for the destroyers have destroyed them and ruined 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 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 out-places the chariots shine, They go to and fro in broad places, Their appearances [are] like torches, As lightnings they run.
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 He remembers his majestic ones, They stumble in their goings, They hurry [to] its wall, And the covering is prepared.
He summons his picked troops. They stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in place.
6 Gates of the rivers have been opened, And the palace is dissolved.
The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.
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.
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 Nineveh [is] as a pool of waters, From of old it [is]—and they are fleeing! “Stand, stand”; and none is turning!
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 Seize silver, seize gold, And there is no end to the prepared things, [To] the abundance of all desirable 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 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.
She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown 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 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 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 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,” 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!”
“Behold, I am against you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “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.”
