He that dasheth in pieces is come up against thee: keep the fortress, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.
For Jehovah restoreth the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out, and destroyed their vine-branches.
The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots {Hebrew: are with fire of steel.}flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the {Hebrew: cypress-trees.}cypress spears are brandished.
The chariots rage in the streets; they rush to and fro in the broad ways: the appearance of them is like torches; they run like the lightnings.
He remembereth his nobles: they stumble in their march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the mantelet is prepared.
The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.
{Or, Huzzab is uncovered &c.}And it is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her handmaids {Or, lead her}moan as with the voice of doves, beating upon their {Hebrew: hearts.}breasts.
But Nineveh hath been {Or, from the days that she hath been}from of old like a pool of water: yet they flee away. Stand, stand, they cry; but none {Or causeth them to turn}looketh back.
Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold; for there is no end of the store, the {Or, wealth}glory of all goodly furniture.
She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all are waxed pale.
Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?
The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with prey, and his dens with ravin.
Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions; and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.
Querverweise zu Nahum 2,2 Nah 2,2
{Or, Woe to Asshur}Ho Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, the staff in whose hand is mine indignation!
I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and {Hebrew: to make them a treading down.}to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.
For he saith, Are not my princes all of them kings?
Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
As my hand hath {Or, reached}found the kingdoms of the idols, whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;
shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that, when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will {Hebrew: visit upon.}punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
In that day shalt thou not be put to shame for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me; for then I will take away out of the midst of thee {Or, them that exult in thy majesty}thy proudly exulting ones, and thou shalt no more be haughty in my holy mountain.
Joseph is {Hebrew: the son of a fruitful tree.}a fruitful bough,A fruitful bough by a fountain;His {Hebrew: daughters.}branches run over the wall.
For, lo, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith Jehovah of hosts.
The archers have sorely grieved him,And shot at him, and persecuted him:
Why hast thou broken down its walls,So that all they that pass by the way do pluck it?
The boar out of the wood doth ravage it,And the wild beasts of the field feed on it.
If grape-gatherers came to thee, {Or, they will leave no gleaning grapes; if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough. For &c.}would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, would they not destroy till they had enough?
Israel is a luxuriant vine, that putteth forth his fruit: according to the abundance of his fruit he hath multiplied his altars; according to the { Or, prosperity}goodness of their land they have made goodly { Or, obelisks}pillars.