Nahum 2
1 He who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress. Watch the way. Strengthen your waist. Fortify your power mightily.
The one who scatters has come to attack you! Guard the fortresses! Watch the roads! Get yourselves ready! Call every soldier out!
2 For Jehovah restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the destroyers have destroyed them, and ruined their vine branches.
(For the Lord will restore the splendor of the people of Jacob as he will restore the splendor of Israel, for invaders have plundered them, and destroyed their land.)
3 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.
The shields of his chief soldiers are red; the warriors wear scarlet. His chariots flash like fire in the sunlight as he prepares for battle. Spears with their wooden shafts are held up and shaken.
4 The chariots rage in the streets. They rush back and forth in the broad ways. Their appearance is like torches. They run like the lightnings.
Chariots race madly through the streets, rushing back and forth across the town squares. Bright as torches, they dash like lightning flashes.
5 He summons his picked troops. They stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in place.
He shouts orders to his officers. They stumble as they rush to attack the wall. The battering ram is set up.
6 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.
The river gates are opened; the palace washes away.
7 It is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts.
“Queen” Nineveh is stripped, and led away into exile, with her servant girls mourning like doves, and beating their breasts.
8 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.
Nineveh is a leaky pool—its population is like water running away. “Stop! Stop” people shout, but nobody turns back.
9 Take the spoil of silver. Take the spoil of gold, for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture.
Loot the silver! Loot the gold! There's an endless supply—an abundance of everything you could ever want.
10 She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.
Deserted, destroyed, devastated! Hearts faint, knees tremble, stomachs ache. Everyone's faces turn pale.
11 Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion's cubs, and no one made them afraid?
Where now is the lion's den? Where is the place where the young lions used to feed? Where is the lion, and the lioness, and the lion cub that were afraid of no one?
12 The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill, and his dens with prey.
The lion tears apart meat for his cubs, and strangles prey for his lionesses. He fills his den with prey, his lair with carcasses.
13 "Look, I am against you," says Jehovah 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."
Watch out! For I am against you, declares the Lord Almighty. I will set fire to your chariots and they will go up in smoke. Your strong young men will be killed by the sword. I will stop you plundering other peoples. The demands of your ambassadors will no longer be heard.
