Nahum 2

¹At this moment on the mountains

the footsteps of one bearing good news,

of one announcing peace!

Celebrate your feasts, Judah,

fulfill your vows!

For never again will destroyers invade you;

they are completely cut off.

²One who scatters has come up against you;[#: the enemy is about to crush Nineveh, dispersing and deporting its people (v. 8; 3:18).]

guard the rampart,

Watch the road, brace yourselves,

marshal all your strength!

³The Lord will restore the vine of Jacob,[#This verse does not fit its context well; it may have been the conclusion for the preceding section and have once followed v. 1, or it may be a later scribal addition.]

the honor of Israel,

Because ravagers have ravaged them

and ruined their branches.

⁴The shields of his warriors are crimsoned,

the soldiers clad in scarlet;

Like fire are the trappings of the chariots

on the day he prepares for war;

the cavalry is agitated!

⁵The chariots dash madly through the streets

and wheel in the squares,

Looking like torches,

bolting like lightning.

⁶His picked troops are called,

ranks break at their charge;

To the wall they rush,

their screen is set up.

⁷The river gates are opened,[#: a network of canals brought water into Nineveh from the Tigris and Khosr Rivers on which the city was located.]

the palace is washed away.

⁸The mistress is led forth captive,

and her maidservants led away,

Moaning like doves,

beating their breasts.

⁹Nineveh is like a pool

whose waters escape;

“Stop! Stop!”

but none turns back.

¹⁰“Plunder the silver, plunder the gold!”

There is no end to the treasure,

to wealth in every precious thing!

¹¹Emptiness, desolation, waste;

melting hearts and trembling knees,

Churning in every stomach,

every face turning pale!

¹²Where is the lionesses’ den,

the young lions’ cave,

Where the lion went in and out,

and the cub, with no one to disturb them?

¹³The lion tore apart enough for his cubs,

and strangled for his lionesses;

He filled his lairs with prey,

and his dens with torn flesh.

¹⁴I now come against you—

oracle of the Lord of hosts—

I will consume your chariots in smoke,

and the sword will devour your young lions;

Your preying on the land I will bring to an end,

the cry of your lionesses will be heard no more.