Nahum 2

1 A scatterer has come up to your face, Keep the bulwark, watch the way, Strengthen the loins, strengthen 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.

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.

4 In out-places the chariots shine, They go to and fro in broad places, Their appearances [are] like torches, As lightnings they run.

5 He remembers his majestic ones, They stumble in their goings, They hurry [to] its wall, And the covering is prepared.

6 Gates of the rivers have been 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.

8 And Nineveh [is] as a pool of waters, From of old it [is]—and they are fleeing! “Stand, stand”; and none is turning!

9 Seize silver, seize gold, And there is no end to the prepared things, [To] the abundance of all desirable vessels.

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.

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.

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.

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!”