The Book of the Prophet Nahum 2 The Siege and Capture of Nineveh

 The Book of the Prophet Nahum 2

The Siege and Capture of Nineveh

1 The destroyer is already before you: guard your stronghold, watch the road, strengthen your loins, greatly strengthen your power.

2 For the Lord will restore the excellence of Jacob, as the excellence of Israel; for those who plundered have plundered them, and have corrupted their branches.

3 The shields of their mighty men will be red, the valiant men scarlet, the chariots like flaming torches on the day of their preparation, and the spears will shake terribly.

4 The chariots will rage in the squares, they will clash in the streets: their appearance is like that of torches, they will run like lightning.

5 He will remember his riches; but they will stumble in their march; they will present themselves at the wall, when the shield is prepared.

6 The gates of the river will open, and the palace will melt away.

7 Huzab is uncovered; she will be taken captive, and her maidens will follow her, moaning like doves, beating their breasts.

8 Nineveh has been like a pool of water since it existed; but now it flees. “Stop, stop!” they will cry; but no one will look back.

9 Plunder the silver, plunder the gold, for there is no end to the supply; there is plenty of every kind of desirable property.

10 Empty, exhausted, and devastated it will be: hearts melt, knees tremble, all loins are in pain, and the faces of all of them grow pale.

11 Where is now the den of lions, and the pastures of the young lions, where the old lion and the lion’s cub walked, with no one to frighten them away?

12 The lion would snatch enough for his cubs, and strangle prey for his lionesses, and fill his dens with prey, and his lairs with plunder.

13 Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of Hosts, and I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions, and I will strip your prey from the earth, and the voice of your ambassadors will no longer be heard.