66 Or “your guards.” The noun מִגְּזָרַיִךְ (miggézarayikh, “your courtiers”) is related to Assyrian manzazu (“courtier”; 2:639.a) or massaru (“guard”; 2:621.a); see *מִגְּזָר). The nuance “princes,” suggested by older lexicographers ( 634 מִנְזַר), is obsolete.
67 The noun טַפְסְרַיִךְ (tafsérayikh, “your scribes”) from טִפְסָר (tifsar, “scribe, marshal”) is a loanword from Assyrian tupsarru and Sumerian DUB.SAR (“tablet-writer; scribe; official”); see 381 טִפְסָר; This term is also attested in Ugaritic tupsarru and in Phoenician dpsr. As in Jer 51:27, it is used of military and administrative officials. This term designated military officials who recorded the names of recruits and the military activities of Assyrian kings (see P. Machinist, “Assyria and its Image in the First Isaiah,” 103 [1983]: 736).
68 Heb “it flees.”
69 The editors propose redividing the singular reading וְנוֹדַד (vénodad, “and it flees”) to the plural וְנוֹדְדוּ (vénodédu, “and they flee”) due to the difficulty of a singular verb. However, the supports the singular reading. The subject is גוֹב (gov, “swarm”), not individual locusts.
70 The reads the noun with 3rd person masculine singular suffix מְקוֹמוֹ (méqomo, “its place”). The editors suggest emending to 3rd person masculine plural suffix מְקוֹמָם (méqomam, “their place”). The is supported by the reading, which has a singular suffix. The 3rd person masculine singular suffix is not as awkward as the editors claim—its antecedent is the singular אַרְבֶּה (’arbeh, “locust”) and גוֹב גֹבָי (gov govay, “a swarm of locusts”), as reflected by the 3rd person masculine singular verb וְנוֹדַד (translated “it flies away”).
71 The reads אַיָּם (’ayyam, “Where are they?”); see, e.g., Isa 19:12; 1:202–3 אֵי; ). On the other hand, the ’s οὐαί αὐτοῖς (ouai autois, “Woe to them!”) seems to reflect a reading of אֶיָּם (’eyyam, “Alas to them!”). The editors suggest emending to אֵיכָה (“Alas!” or “How?”) and join it to v. 18, or אוֹי מַה (’oy mah, “Woe! Why …?”) joined to v. 18. ( ) suggests the emendation אֵיךָ (’ekha, “Alas to you!”). Heb “Its place is not known—where are they?” The form אַיָּם has been taken in various ways: (1) an interrogative adverb with 3rd person masculine plural suffix (“where are they?”; §100.o; 32 אַי 1.a); (2) an interrogative particle אֵי (’ey, “where?”) lengthened to אַיָּה (ayyah) and written with the enclitic particle ־ם (mem; §100.g), similar to ayyami (“where?”) in Assyrian ( 1.1.220); see W. A. Maier, Nahum, 356; R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (), 111; T. Longman, “Nahum,” The Minor Prophets, 2:826.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Your princes are like grasshoppers,

your scribes like clouds of locusts

settling on the fences

in a day of cold—

when the sun rises, they fly away;

no one knows where they are.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Your guards are like locusts,

your officials like swarms of locusts

that settle in the walls on a cold day—

but when the sun appears they fly away,

and no one knows where.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Your court officials are like the swarming locust,

and your scribes like clouds of locusts,

which settle on the walls on a cold day;

when the sun rises, they take off,

and no one knows where they are.

NLTNew Living Translation

Your guards and officials are also like swarming locusts

that crowd together in the hedges on a cold day.

But like locusts that fly away when the sun comes up,

all of them will fly away and disappear.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

Your officials are like locusts;

your commanders are like a swarm of locusts.

They encamp on the walls on a cold day;

when the sun rises, they fly away—

no one knows where they have gone.

KJV 1900King James Version

Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers,

Which camp in the hedges in the cold day,

But when the sun ariseth they flee away,

And their place is not known where they are.

Public Domain