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!

[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!

2 For Yahweh restores the excellency of Jacob as the excellency of Israel, for the destroyers have destroyed them and ruined their vine branches.

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.

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 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.

4 The chariots rage in the streets. They rush back and forth in the wide ways. Their appearance is like torches. They run like the lightnings.

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.

5 He summons his picked troops. They stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in place.

[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.

6 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.

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.

7 It is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her servants moan as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts.

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].

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.

[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].

9 Take the plunder of silver. Take the plunder of gold, for there is no end of treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.

[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!”

10 She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.

[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.

11 Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked with the lion’s cubs, and no one made them afraid?

[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.

12 The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled prey for his lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill and his dens with prey.

[The soldiers in Nineveh were like] [MET] lions that killed or strangled [other animals] [and brought the meat] to their dens.”

13 “Behold, I am against you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “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.”

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].”