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!
He that breaketh in pieces hath come up over thy face, Keep the keeps, —watch the way, brace the loins, make vigour very firm.
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 Yahweh hath restored the excellency of Jacob, like the excellency of Israel, —for the plunderers have plundered them, and, their vine branches, have they marred.
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 shield of his heroes, is made red, the men of war, are clad in crimson, on fire, are the chariot-steels, on the day he maketh ready, —and, the lances, are put in motion.
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.
In the streets, madly go the chariots, they rush along in the broadways, —their appearance, is like torches, as lightnings, hither and thither do they run.
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.
Let him call to mind his nobles, they shall stumble as they go—let them hasten to her wall, yet the storming cover, 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 the rivers, have been opened, —and, the palace, doth quake.
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].
And, Huzzab, hath been taken captive—hath been led up, —and, her handmaids, are making a moan like the sound of doves, as they taber upon their heart.
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].
Yet, as for Nineveh, like a reservoir of waters, are her waters, —but, those men, are in flight! Stand! stand! but no one is turning.
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!”
Plunder silver, plunder gold, —and there is no end to the costly furnishing, rich with every article of delight.
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.
Emptiness, yea turned to emptiness, aye deserted [is she]! with, heart, unnerved, and, a tottering, of knees, and, anguish, in all loins, and, the faces of them all, have withdrawn their colour.
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 is the lair of the lions? Yea the very feeding-place of the young lions, —where walked the lion, the lioness, the lion’s whelp, with none to make 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, used to tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and to strangle for his lionesses, —and then fill with prey his holes, and his lairs with what he had torn.
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 me! against thee, Declareth Yahweh of hosts, Therefore will I burn up in smoke her chariots, and, thy young lions, shall be devoured by the sword, —so will I cut off, out of the earth, thy prey, nor shall be heard any more, the voice of thine envoy.
