나훔 2

Good news on the mountains: Nineveh falls

¹Look! On the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news! He calls out peace. \q Celebrate your festivals, Judah, and fulfill your vows, \q for the worthless one will never again march through you; he is cut off completely.^{a 2}One who scatters is coming up against you. Guard the ramparts! \q Watch the road! Brace yourself! \q Gather all your strength!^{b 3}For the LORD is restoring the glory of Jacob, \q like the glory of Israel, \q though plunderers have stripped them bare \q and ruined their vines. ⁴The shields of his warriors are red; his soldiers are dressed in scarlet. \q The chariots flash like fire with steel on the day he musters them, \q and the spears of cypress wood are brandished.^{cd 5}The chariots race madly through the streets \q and rush back and forth in the squares. \q They look like flaming torches; \q they dart about like lightning. ⁶He calls up his officers; \q they stumble as they advance. \q They rush to the city wall, \q and the siege shelter is set in place.^{e 7}The river gates are thrown open, \q and the palace gives way.^{f 8}It is decreed: she is stripped and carried away, \q and her servant women moan like doves \q and beat their breasts.^{g 9}Nineveh has been like a pool of water since ancient days, \q and now its people flee. \q “Halt! Halt!” But no one turns back.^{h 10}Loot the silver! Loot the gold! \q There is no end to the treasure, \q riches of every precious kind. ¹¹Empty, emptied, stripped bare! \q Hearts melt and knees give way, every body writhes in anguish, \q and every face turns pale. ¹²Where now is the lions’ den, \q the place where the young lions fed, \q where the lion and lioness prowled with their cubs, and no one disturbed them? ¹³The lion killed enough for his cubs \q and strangled prey for his mates; \q he filled his caves with prey \q and his dens with what he had torn. ¹⁴I am against you, declares the LORD of Armies. \q I will burn up your chariots in a cloud of smoke, \q and the sword will feed on your young lions. \q I will leave you no prey on the earth, \q and your messengers’ voices will be heard no more.