Nahum 2
1 Look! On the mountains are the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace. Celebrate your festivals, Judah; fulfill your vows, for the wicked one will never again pass through you. He has been completely cut off.
2 The one who scatters is coming against you. Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace yourselves, muster all your strength!
3 For the LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob, like the splendor of Israel, though plunderers have plundered them and ruined their branches.
4 His warriors’ shields are red; his soldiers are dressed in scarlet. The chariots gleam like steel fire on the day he prepares them, and the cypress spears are brandished.
5 The chariots race wildly through the streets, rushing back and forth across the squares. They look like flaming torches; they dart like lightning.
6 He calls his officers to mind; they stumble as they advance. They hurry to the city wall, and the protective screen is put in place.
7 The river gates are opened, and the palace melts away.
8 It is decreed: she is stripped and carried away. Her servant women moan like the sound of doves, beating their breasts.
9 Nineveh has been like a pool of water for as long as it has existed, but now they are fleeing. “Stop! Stop!”—but no one turns back.
10 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! There is no end to the treasure, to the abundance of every precious thing.
11 Desolation, devastation, ruin! Hearts melt; knees give way. Every waist is wracked with pain, and every face grows pale.
12 Where is the lions’ den now, the place where the young lions were fed, where the lion, the lioness, and the cub roamed, with no one to frighten them?
13 The lion tore apart enough for his cubs and strangled prey for his lionesses; he filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh.
14 I am against you, declares the LORD of Armies. I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the land, and the voice of your messengers will never be heard again.
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