Nahum 2

The Destruction of Nineveh

2He ¹who scatters has come up before your face.

Man the fort!

Watch the road!

Strengthen your flanks!

Fortify your power mightily.

²For the Lord will restore the excellence of Jacob

Like the excellence of Israel,

For the emptiers have emptied them out

And ruined their vine branches.

³The shields of his mighty men are made red,

The valiant men are in scarlet.

The chariots come with flaming torches

In the day of his preparation,

And ²the spears are brandished.

⁴The chariots rage in the streets,

They jostle one another in the broad roads;

They seem like torches,

They run like lightning.

⁵He remembers his nobles;

They stumble in their walk;

They make haste to her walls,

And the defense is prepared.

⁶The gates of the rivers are opened,

And the palace is dissolved.

⁷³It is decreed:

She shall be led away captive,

She shall be brought up;

And her maidservants shall lead her as with the voice of doves,

Beating their breasts.

⁸Though Nineveh of old was like a pool of water,

Now they flee away.

⁴“Halt! Halt!” they cry;

But no one turns back.

⁹⁵Take spoil of silver!

Take spoil of ^agold!

There is no end of treasure,

Or wealth of every desirable prize.

¹⁰She is empty, desolate, and waste!

The heart melts, and the knees shake;

Much pain is in every side,

And all their faces ⁶are drained of color.

¹¹Where is the dwelling of the ^blions,

And the feeding place of the young lions,

Where the lion walked, the lioness and lion’s cub,

And no one made them afraid?

¹²The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs,

⁷Killed for his lionesses,

^cFilled his caves with prey,

And his dens with ⁸flesh.

¹³“Behold, ^dI am against you,” says the Lord of hosts, “I will burn ⁹your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your ^emessengers shall be heard no more.”