LEB NAH chapter 2

The Enemy Army Conquers the City of Nineveh

3 are dyed red; The powerful men are dressed in scarlet.

The metal of the chariots[fn] shines like fire[fn]
- and their spears quiver.
- 4 [fn] race madly through the streets; they rush back and forth in the public squares.
Their appearance like lightning bolts,
- they dart about like flashes of lightning.
- 5  they stumble as they march;
they rush to her wall;
- they set the covering[fn] in place.
- 6  the palace trembles.
- 7 [fn] her maidservants moan like doves;
  - they beat on their breasts.
- 8 is like a pool of water without its water.[fn][fn] she cries, “Stop! Stop!”
  - But there is no one who turns back.
- 9  There is no end to the spoils,[fn]
  - an abundance of[fn]
- 10  Their hearts faint and their knees tremble,[fn]
  - [fn] and all their faces[fn] pale.

The Divine Warrior Will Hunt down the Mighty Lions

11 now is the den of the lions and the cave of the fierce lions?

There the lioness, the cub, and the lion once[fn]
- [fn]
- 12 prey for his cubs, he strangled prey for his lioness;
he filled[fn] with prey
- and his den with mangled carcass.
- 13 [fn] Yahweh of hosts. “I will burn her chariots[fn]
  - the sword will devour fierce lions.
- I will cut off your prey from the earth;
  - the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.”

?:? Or “way”

?:? Or “Collect”

?:? Hebrew “chariot”

?:? Literally “on the day of his preparation”

?:? Hebrew “chariot”

?:? The Hebrew word describes a small portable roof to protect siege warriors from arrows and debris hurled at them from the fortified city wall

?:? Literally “It is decreed that she be exiled and led away.” MT reads the very enigmatic “And he is placed, she is sent into exile, she is taken up.” The BHS editors suggest the conjectural emendation “And her goddess = the idol of the patron deity of Nineveh is taken and taken into exile.” This is adopted in the translation on the basis of internal evidence

?:? MT reads “from her days.” Greek LXX and Syriac Peshitta reflect “from her waters”

?:? Literally “And they flee away”

?:? Literally “the supply”

?:? Literally “every kind of desirable object”

?:? Or “totter”

?:? Literally “And shaking of all loins”

?:? Literally “gather”

?:? Literally “went”

?:? Literally “there is no one making them afraid”

?:? Literally “his holes”

?:? Literally “a declaration of”

?:? Literally “with smoke”

LEB NAH Chapter 2