Nahum 2
1 [You people of] [APO] Nineveh, your enemies are coming to attack you. [So] place guards on the tops of the walls around the city! Guard the roads [into the city]! Get ready to fight! Gather your troops/soldiers [MTY] together!
The ravager cometh up against thee, [[O Nineveh!]] Guard the fortress; watch the way; Gird up the loins; confirm the strength.
2 Even though enemy soldiers have destroyed the descendants of [MTY] Jacob, Yahweh will cause them to be honored again. Israel is like a grapevine that has been ruined, but Israel will prosper again.
For Jehovah restoreth the glory of Jacob, As the glory of Israel; For the wasters have wasted them, And destroyed their branches.
3 The shields of the enemy soldiers [who are coming to attack you] will shine red [as the sun shines on them], and they will wear bright red uniforms. The metal of their chariot [wheels] will flash when they line up [before the battle], and their soldiers will lift up their cypress/pine spears and wave them.
The shields of his mighty men are red; His warriors are clothed in crimson; His chariots glitter with the fire of steel in the day of his preparation, And the spears are brandished.
4 Their chariots will dash through the streets [of Nineveh] and rush furiously through the plazas. Going as quick as lightning, they will resemble flaming torches.
The chariots rave in the streets; They run to and fro in the broad ways; Their appearance is like torches; They run like lightnings.
5 [Meanwhile], your king will summon his officers who will stumble as they [try to] come [quickly]. They will dash to the [city] wall, holding their shields to protect themselves.
He calleth for his mighty men; They stumble on their way; They hasten to the wall; But the mantelet is prepared,
6 But, the gates [of the dams] on the rivers will be thrown open [by enemy soldiers], and [the flood will cause] the palace to collapse.
The gates of rivers are opened, And the palace melteth away.
7 The queen will have her clothes stripped off her [by enemy soldiers], and her slave girls will moan like doves and beat their breasts [to show that they are very sad].
Huzzab is uncovered; she is carried away captive, Her maidservants sigh with the voice of doves, And smite their breasts.
8 [The people will rush from] Nineveh like [SIM] water rushes from a broken dam. [The officials] will shout, “Stop! Stop!” but the people will not even look back [as they run away].
Nineveh was like a pool full of water of old; Yet shall they flee away; Stand! stand! shall they cry; But none shall look back.
9 [The enemy attackers say to each other, ] “Seize the silver! Grab the gold! There is a huge amount of very valuable things in this city, more valuable things than anyone can count!”
Seize the silver; seize the gold; There is no end to the treasures; There is abundance of all precious furniture.
10 [Soon everything valuable in the city] will be seized or ruined. People will be trembling, with the result that they will not be able to fight. Their faces will all become pale.
She hath become void, and empty, and desolate; The heart melteth, and the knees smite together; Pangs are in all their loins, And the faces of all gather blackness.
11 [After that happens, people will say, ] “What happened to [RHQ] that [great city of Nineveh]? [It was like] [MET] a den [full] of young lions, where the male and female lions lived and fed the young ones.
Where now is the dwelling of the lions, And the feeding-place of the young lions, Where the lion and the lioness walked, And the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?
12 [The soldiers in Nineveh were like] [MET] lions that killed or strangled [other animals] [and brought the meat] to their dens.”
The lion tore in pieces for his whelps, And strangled for his lionesses, And filled his dens with prey, And his lairs with ravin.
13 The Commander of the armies of angels says [to the people of Nineveh], “I am opposed to you; I will cause your chariots to [be burned in fires and] go up in smoke. Your young men will be killed with swords. [Your soldiers] will never again conquer [other nations] and seize their valuable possessions. Your messengers will never again take messages [to other nations, demanding that their armies surrender to them].”
Behold! I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts, And I will burn thy chariots into 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.
