Nahum 2:3-10
English Standard Version
3 The shield of his mighty men is red;
(A)his soldiers are clothed in scarlet.
The chariots come with flashing metal
on the day he musters them;
the cypress spears are brandished.
4 (B)The chariots race madly through the streets;
they rush to and fro through the squares;
they gleam like torches;
they dart like lightning.
5 He remembers (C)his officers;
(D)they stumble as they go,
they hasten to the wall;
the siege tower[a] is set up.
6 (E)The river gates are opened;
the palace (F)melts away;
7 its mistress[b] is (G)stripped;[c] she is carried off,
her slave girls (H)lamenting,
moaning like doves
and beating their breasts.
8 (I)Nineveh is like a pool
whose waters run away.[d]
“Halt! Halt!” they cry,
but (J)none turns back.
9 Plunder the silver,
plunder the gold!
There is no end of the treasure
or of the wealth of all precious things.
10 (K)Desolate! Desolation and ruin!
(L)Hearts melt and (M)knees tremble;
(N)anguish is in all loins;
(O)all faces grow pale!
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.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
