Nahum 2

1A scatterer has come up to your face, || Keep the bulwark, watch the way, || Strengthen the loins, strengthen power mightily.

2For YHWH has turned back to the excellence of Jacob, || As [to] the excellence of Israel, || For emptiers have emptied them out, || And they have marred their branches.

3The shield of his mighty ones has 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.

4In out-places the chariots shine, || They go to and fro in broad places, || Their appearances [are] like torches, || As lightnings they run.

5He remembers his majestic ones, || They stumble in their goings, || They hurry [to] its wall, || And the covering is prepared.

6Gates of the rivers have been opened, || And the palace is dissolved.

7And it is established—she has removed, || She has been brought up, || And her handmaids are leading as the voice of doves, || Tabering on their hearts.

8And Nineveh [is] as a pool of waters, || From of old it [is]—and they are fleeing! “Stand, stand”; and none is turning!

9Seize silver, seize gold, || And there is no end to the prepared things, || [To] the abundance of all desirable vessels.

10She is empty, indeed, emptiness and waste, || And the heart has melted, || And the knees have struck together, || And great pain [is] in all loins, || And the faces of all of them have gathered paleness.

11Where [is] the habitation of lionesses? And a feeding-place it [is] for young lions || Where a lion has walked, an old lion, || A lion’s whelp, and there is none troubling.

12The lion is tearing parts [for] his whelps, || And is strangling for his lionesses, || And he fills his holes [with] prey, || And his habitations [with] torn flesh.

13“Behold, I [am] against you,” || A declaration of YHWH of Hosts, || “And I have burned its chariot in smoke, || And a sword consumes your young lions, || And I have cut off your prey from the land, || And the voice of your messengers is not heard anymore!”