Nahum 2
1 Come up hath a scatterer to thy face, Keep the bulwark, watch the way, Strengthen the loins, strengthen power mightily.
One who scatters advances against you, O Nineveh. Guard the fortress! Watch the road! Brace yourselves! Summon all your strength!
2 For turned back hath Jehovah to the excellency of Jacob, As [to] the excellency of Israel, For emptied them out have emptiers, And their branches they have marred.
For the LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and ruined the branches of their vine.
3 The shield of his mighty ones is 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 shields of his mighty men are red; the valiant warriors are dressed in scarlet. The fittings of the chariots flash like fire on the day they are prepared, and the spears of cypress have been brandished.
4 In out-places shine do the chariots, They go to and fro in broad places, Their appearances [are] like torches, As lightnings they run.
The chariots dash through the streets; they rush around the plazas, appearing like torches, darting about like lightning.
5 He doth remember his honourable ones, They stumble in their goings, They hasten [to] its wall, and prepared is the covering.
He summons his nobles; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place.
6 Gates of the rivers have been opened, And the palace is dissolved.
The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.
7 And it is established — she hath removed, She hath been brought up, And her handmaids are leading as the voice of doves, Tabering on their hearts.
It is decreed that the city be exiled and carried away; her maidservants moan like doves, and beat upon their breasts.
8 And Nineveh [is] as a pool of waters, From of old it [is] — and they are fleeing! 'Stand ye, stand;' and none is turning!
Nineveh has been like a pool of water throughout her days, but now it is draining away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back.
9 Seize ye silver, seize ye gold, And there is no end to the prepared things, [To] the abundance of all desirable vessels.
“Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!” There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.
10 She is empty, yea, emptiness and waste, And the heart hath melted, And the knees have smitten together, And great pain [is] in all loins, And the faces of all of them have gathered paleness.
She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!
11 Where [is] the habitation of lionesses? And a feeding-place it [is] for young lions Where walked hath a lion, an old lion, A lion's whelp, and there is none troubling.
Where is the lions’ lair or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled with their cubs, with nothing to frighten them away?
12 The lion is tearing parts [for] his whelps, And is strangling for his lionesses, And he doth fill [with] prey his holes, And his habitations [with] rapine.
The lion mauled enough for its cubs and strangled prey for the lioness. It filled its dens with the kill, and its lairs with mauled prey.
13 Lo, I [am] against thee, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts, And I have burned in smoke its chariot, And thy young lions consume doth a sword, And I have cut off from the land thy prey, And not heard any more is the voice of thy messengers!
“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will send your chariots up in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.”
