Nahum 2:3-10
New Living Translation
3 Shields flash red in the sunlight!
See the scarlet uniforms of the valiant troops!
Watch as their glittering chariots move into position,
with a forest of spears waving above them.[a]
4 The chariots race recklessly along the streets
and rush wildly through the squares.
They flash like firelight
and move as swiftly as lightning.
5 The king shouts to his officers;
they stumble in their haste,
rushing to the walls to set up their defenses.
6 The river gates have been torn open!
The palace is about to collapse!
7 Nineveh’s exile has been decreed,
and all the servant girls mourn its capture.
They moan like doves
and beat their breasts in sorrow.
8 Nineveh is like a leaking water reservoir!
The people are slipping away.
“Stop, stop!” someone shouts,
but no one even looks back.
9 Loot the silver!
Plunder the gold!
There’s no end to Nineveh’s treasures—
its vast, uncounted wealth.
10 Soon the city is plundered, empty, and ruined.
Hearts melt and knees shake.
The people stand aghast,
their faces pale and trembling.
Footnotes
- 2:3 Greek and Syriac versions read into position, / the horses whipped into a frenzy.
Nahum 2:3-10
Lexham English Bible
The Enemy Army Conquers the City of Nineveh
3 The shields of his warriors are dyed red;
The powerful men are dressed in scarlet.
The metal of the chariots[a] shines like fire on the day of battle,[b]
and their spears quiver.
4 The chariots[c] 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 He calls his officers;
they stumble as they march;
they rush to her wall;
they set the covering[d] in place.
6 The gates of the river are opened;
the palace trembles.
7 Her goddess is taken out and taken into exile;[e]
her maidservants moan like doves;
they beat on their breasts.
8 Nineveh is like a pool of water without its water.[f]
As they flee,[g] she cries, “Stop! Stop!”
But there is no one who turns back.
9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!
There is no end to the spoils,[h]
an abundance of everything one could want![i]
10 Emptiness and plundering and devastation!
Their hearts faint and their knees tremble,[j]
All their loins shake[k] and all their faces turn[l] pale.
Footnotes
- Nahum 2:3 Hebrew “chariot”
- Nahum 2:3 Literally “on the day of his preparation”
- Nahum 2:4 Hebrew “chariot”
- Nahum 2:5 The Hebrew word describes a small portable roof to protect siege warriors from arrows and debris hurled at them from the fortified city wall
- Nahum 2:7 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
- Nahum 2:8 MT reads “from her days.” Greek LXX and Syriac Peshitta reflect “from her waters”
- Nahum 2:8 Literally “And they flee away”
- Nahum 2:9 Literally “the supply”
- Nahum 2:9 Literally “every kind of desirable object”
- Nahum 2:10 Or “totter”
- Nahum 2:10 Literally “And shaking of all loins”
- Nahum 2:10 Literally “gather”
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