Nahum 2
1 Nineveh! The destroyer has come up against you; mount guard upon the rampart; watch the road; brace yourselves; strengthen your might to the utmost.
He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.
2 For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob and of Israel, though the devastators have plundered them and destroyed their vines.
For YHWH hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.
3 The shields of his warriors are dyed red, his soldiers are clothed in scarlet, his chariots gleam like fire on the day he prepares for battle spears are shaken.
The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.
4 Chariots rush across the fields, storm through the squares; they flame like torches, they dart like lightening.
The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.
5 A leader rallies his nobles, they hurl themselves forward. They speed on toward the wall; the storming-shield is set up.
He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make hast to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared.
6 The water-gates are thrown open, and the palace dissolves in ruins.
The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.
7 The queen is stripped, she is carried off. Her maids moan like doves, beating upon their breasts.
And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.
8 Like a pool of water is Nineveh, her waters fast ebbing away. ‘Stand firm! Stand firm!’ someone cries, but no one turns back.
But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.
9 ‘Loot the silver, loot the gold, for there is no end to the treasure, the wealth and precious things.’
Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.
10 Nineveh is empty, desolate, devastated, with faint heart and knocking knee. There is weakness in every limb, and faces grow pale.
She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.
11 Where now is the den of lions? Where now the lair of their young? Where the lion used to withdraw, with his cubs, with none to disturb them?
Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?
12 The lion tore enough for his cubs, and strangled prey for his lionesses. He filled his caves with the kill, he filled his lairs with fresh meat.
The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.
13 ‘But see, I am against you,’ the Lord of hosts declares, ‘I will burn your chariots in smoke and fire. The sword will devour your young lions. You will never again prey on the land. No more will your messengers be heard.’
Behold, I am against thee, saith YHWH of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the 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.
