Open English Translation NAH Chapter 2

2 The ones who’ll scatter you are getting ready to attack you.

Guard the city walls.

Watch the roads.

Be dressed for battle.

Gather your troops together.

2 Yahweh is restoring Yakob’s (Jacob’s) greatness,

like Israel’s greatness before,

even though the invaders took their valuables and destroyed their vineyards.

3 The enemy’s powerful warriors hold red shields,

≈and his soldiers are dressed in scarlet.

The metal on their chariots gleams

as they get them ready that day,

and their cypress spears are held ready.

4 Their chariots drive madly through the streets,

≈and rush back and forth across the squares.

They look like flaming torches,

≈and dart across like lightning.

5 He calls his officers—

They stumble as they march.

They hurry to attack the city wall,

and to set up the movable roof for protection.

6 The river gates are forced open,

and the palace collapses in the flood.

7 She’s[fn] stripped ready to be taken away.

Her slave girls moan like doves as they beat their chests.

8 In the good days, Nineveh was like a refreshing pool of water.

but now they’re fleeing from it.

“Stop, stop,” they say, but no one comes back.

9 “Grab the gold, seize the silver.”

There’s no end to the treasure.

≈Plenty of valuable things.

10 Nineveh’s all emptiness and desolation,

devastation and hearts melting.

Knees trembling and aching stomachs.

Their faces all gone very pale.

11 What happened to that ‘lion’s den’—

the place where young cubs were fed?

The place where the lion and lioness walked—

where the cubs were safe with nothing to terrify them.

12 The lion tore apart enough for the cubs,

≈and strangled prey for his lionesses.

He filled his lairs with prey

≈and his dens with torn flesh.

13 Army commander Yahweh declares that he’s against you.

He’ll burn your chariots up in smoke,

and your young men will be killed with swords.

He’ll take your prey away from you,

and the voices of your messengers won’t be heard anymore.