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Nahum 2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Nahum 2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Destruction of the Wicked City
2 A scatterer has come up against you.
Guard the ramparts;
watch the road;
gird your loins;
collect all your strength.(A)
2 (For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob,
as well as the majesty of Israel,
though ravagers have ravaged them
and ruined their branches.)(B)
3 The shields of his warriors are red;
his soldiers are clothed in crimson.
The metal on the chariots flashes
on the day when he musters them;
the chargers[a] prance.(C)
4 The chariots race madly through the streets;
they rush to and fro through the squares;
their appearance is like torches;
they dart like lightning.(D)
5 He calls his officers;
they stumble as they come forward;
they hasten to the wall,
and the screen[b] is set up.
6 The river gates are opened;
the palace trembles.
7 It is decreed[c] that the city[d] be exiled,
its slave women led away,
moaning like doves
and beating their breasts.(E)
8 Nineveh is like a pool
whose waters[e] run away.
“Halt! Halt!”—
but no one turns back.(F)
9 “Plunder the silver;
plunder the gold!
There is no end of treasure!
An abundance of every precious thing!”
10 Devastation, desolation, and destruction!
Hearts faint and knees tremble;
all loins quake;
all faces grow pale!(G)
11 What became of the lions’ den,
the cave of the young lions,
where the lion goes,
and the lion’s cubs, with no one to disturb them?(H)
12 The lion has torn enough for his whelps
and strangled prey for his lionesses;
he has filled his caves with prey
and his dens with torn flesh.(I)
13 See, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your[f] chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more.(J)
Nahum 2
New International Version
Nahum 2
New International Version
Nineveh to Fall
2 [a]An attacker(A) advances against you, Nineveh.
Guard the fortress,
watch the road,
brace yourselves,
marshal all your strength!
2 The Lord will restore(B) the splendor(C) of Jacob
like the splendor of Israel,
though destroyers have laid them waste
and have ruined their vines.
3 The shields of the soldiers are red;
the warriors are clad in scarlet.(D)
The metal on the chariots flashes
on the day they are made ready;
the spears of juniper are brandished.[b]
4 The chariots(E) storm through the streets,
rushing back and forth through the squares.
They look like flaming torches;
they dart about like lightning.
5 Nineveh summons her picked troops,
yet they stumble(F) on their way.
They dash to the city wall;
the protective shield is put in place.
6 The river gates(G) are thrown open
and the palace collapses.
7 It is decreed[c] that Nineveh
be exiled and carried away.
Her female slaves moan(H) like doves
and beat on their breasts.(I)
8 Nineveh is like a pool
whose water is draining away.
“Stop! Stop!” they cry,
but no one turns back.
9 Plunder the silver!
Plunder the gold!
The supply is endless,
the wealth from all its treasures!
10 She is pillaged, plundered, stripped!
Hearts melt,(J) knees give way,
bodies tremble, every face grows pale.(K)
Nahum 2
The Message
Nahum 2
The Message
Israel’s Been to Hell and Back
2 The juggernaut’s coming!
Post guards, lay in supplies.
Get yourselves together,
get ready for the big battle.
* * *
2 God has restored the Pride of Jacob,
the Pride of Israel.
Israel’s lived through hard times.
He’s been to hell and back.
3-12 Weapons flash in the sun,
the soldiers splendid in battle dress,
Chariots burnished and glistening,
ready to charge,
A spiked forest of brandished spears,
lethal on the horizon.
The chariots pour into the streets.
They fill the public squares,
Flaming like torches in the sun,
like lightning darting and flashing.
The Assyrian king rallies his men,
but they stagger and stumble.
They run to the ramparts
to stem the tide, but it’s too late.
Soldiers pour through the gates.
The palace is demolished.
Soon it’s all over:
Nineveh stripped, Nineveh doomed,
Maids and slaves moaning like doves,
beating their breasts.
Nineveh is a tub
from which they’ve pulled the plug.
Cries go up, “Do something! Do something!”
but it’s too late. Nineveh’s soon empty—nothing.
Other cries come: “Plunder the silver!
Plunder the gold!
A bonanza of plunder!
Take everything you want!”
Doom! Damnation! Desolation!
Hearts sink,
knees fold,
stomachs retch,
faces blanch.
So, what happened to the famous
and fierce Assyrian lion
And all those cute Assyrian cubs?
To the lion and lioness
Cozy with their cubs,
fierce and fearless?
To the lion who always returned from the hunt
with fresh kills for lioness and cubs,
The lion lair heaped with bloody meat,
blood and bones for the royal lion feast?
* * *
13 “Assyria, I’m your enemy,”
says God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“I’ll torch your chariots. They’ll go up in smoke.
‘Lion Country’ will be strewn with carcasses.
The war business is over—you’re out of work:
You’ll have no more wars to report,
No more victories to announce.
You’re out of war work forever.”
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson