Nahum 2

Nahum 2

The Destruction of the Wicked City

1A scatterer has come up against you.[#Jer 51.20–23; Nah 3.12, 14]

Guard the ramparts;

watch the road;

gird your loins;

collect all your strength.

2(For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob,[#Isa 60.15; Ezek 37.21–23]

as well as the majesty of Israel,

though ravagers have ravaged them

and ruined their branches.)

3The shields of his warriors are red;[#Job 39.23; Ezek 23.14, 15]

his soldiers are clothed in crimson.

The metal on the chariots flashes

on the day when he musters them;

the chargers prance.

4The chariots race madly through the streets;[#Jer 4.13; Ezek 26.10]

they rush to and fro through the squares;

their appearance is like torches;

they dart like lightning.

5He calls his officers;

they stumble as they come forward;

they hasten to the wall,

and the screen is set up.

6The river gates are opened;

the palace trembles.

7It is decreed that the city be exiled,[#Isa 59.11; #2.7 Meaning of Heb uncertain; #2.7 Heb it]

its slave women led away,

moaning like doves

and beating their breasts.

8Nineveh is like a pool[#Jer 46.5; 47.3; Nah 3.7]

whose waters run away.

“Halt! Halt!”—

but no one turns back.

9“Plunder the silver;

plunder the gold!

There is no end of treasure!

An abundance of every precious thing!”

10Devastation, desolation, and destruction![#Ps 22.14; Isa 13.7, 8; Joel 2.6]

Hearts faint and knees tremble;

all loins quake;

all faces grow pale!

11What became of the lions’ den,[#Isa 5.29; Jer 4.7; Nah 3.1]

the cave of the young lions,

where the lion goes,

and the lion’s cubs, with no one to disturb them?

12The lion has torn enough for his whelps[#Isa 10.6–14; Jer 51.34]

and strangled prey for his lionesses;

he has filled his caves with prey

and his dens with torn flesh.

13See, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your 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 messengers shall be heard no more.[#Ps 46.9; Isa 49.24, 25; Nah 3.5; #2.13 Heb her]

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, copyright © 2021 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Published by: National Council of the Churches of Christ