Nahum 2

1 One who scatters advances against you, O Nineveh. Guard the fortress! Watch the road! Brace yourselves! Summon all your strength!

2 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 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 The chariots dash through the streets; they rush around the plazas, appearing like torches, darting about like lightning.

5 He summons his nobles; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place.

6 The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.

7 It is decreed that the city be exiled and carried away; her maidservants moan like doves, and beat upon their breasts.

8 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 “Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!” There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.

10 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 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 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 “Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will reduce your chariots to cinders, 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.”

1 ¶ 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 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 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 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 He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared.

6 The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.

7 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 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 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 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 [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 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 Behold, I [am] against thee, saith the LORD 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.

2 The destroyer shall come up against thee, and shall besiege the stronghold. But, yea, make ready the road, and nest thyself in the best, and strengthen thyself in the most mighty.

3 For the LORD will recompense the pride of Jacob, as he recompensed the pride of Israel: for the reckoners shall count them out, and the reckoners shall destroy them.

4 The shields of his mighty men are red; his host looketh like purple; his chariots shine like fire when he striketh; their spears quake.

5 The chariots roll in the streets, and rattle in the highways; they look like torches, and pass among themselves like lightnings.

6 And he shall remember his mighty men: but they shall fall where they go out, and shall haste to the wall, and to the screen, where they shall be safe.

7 But the gates of the waters shall be opened, and the palace shall go down.

8 The queen shall be led away captive: and her virgins shall groan as doves, and beat upon her breast.

9 For Nineveh is like a pool of water; but the same shall flow away. Stand, stand! (they will shout), but no one will turn back.

10 Rob ye now silver, rob ye gold. For here is no end of treasures, and the multitude of all precious gems.

11 But now she shall be purely picked and plundered, and her heart shall be troubled, and her knees shall shake, and her loins shall tremble, and her face shall look as pale as a pot.

12 Where then is the dwelling place of the lions, and the pasture of the young lions, when the lion and the lioness walked with the young lions, and no man was permitted to drive them out?

13 But the lion robbed enough for his young, and choked his lionesses; he filled his dens with spoil, and his habitation with that which he had torn.

14 Behold, I will be with thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and will burn thy chariots with smoke; and the sword shall devour thy young lions; and I will make an end of thy spoilings upon the earth, and thy messengers' voices shall be heard no more.