Nahum 2

Behold on the hills The footsteps of a herald Announcing good fortune! “Celebrate your festivals, O Judah, Fulfill your vows. Never again shall scoundrels invade you, They have totally vanished.”

A shatterer has come up against you. Put up the guard posts, Watch the road; Steady your loins, Brace all your strength!

For GOD has restored the Pride of Jacob As well as the Pride of Israel, Though marauders have laid them waste And ravaged their branches.

His warriors’ shields are painted red, And the soldiers are clothed in crimson; The chariots are like flaming torches, On the day they are made ready. The [arrows of] cypress wood are poisoned,

The chariots dash about frenzied in the fields, They rush through the meadows. They appear like torches, They race like streaks of lightning.

He commands his burly men; They stumble as they advance, They hasten up to her wall, Where wheeled shelters are set up.

The floodgates are opened, And the palace is deluged.

And Huzzab is exiled and carried away, While her handmaidens escort [her] As with the voices of doves, Beating their breasts.

Nineveh has been like a [placid] pool of water From earliest times; Now they flee. “Stop! Stop!”— But none can turn them back.

“Plunder silver! Plunder gold!” There is no limit to the treasure; It is a hoard of all precious objects.

Desolation, devastation, and destruction! Spirits sink, Knees buckle, All loins tremble, All faces turn ashen.

What has become of that lions’ den, That pasture of great beasts, Where lion and lion’s breed walked, And lion’s cub—with none to disturb them?

[Where is] the lion that tore victims for its cubs And strangled for the lionesses, And filled its lairs with prey And its dens with mangled flesh?

I am going to deal with you —declares GOD of Hosts: I will burn down her chariots in smoke, And the sword shall devour your great beasts; I will stamp out your killings from the earth, And the sound of your messengers Shall be heard no more.