Nahum 2
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Nahum 2
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| A crusher has come up before your face: keep a good look-out, let the way be watched, make yourself strong, let your power be greatly increased. | Le destructeur marche contre toi. Garde la forteresse! Veille sur la route! affermis tes reins! Recueille toute ta force!... |
| For the Lord will make good the vine of Jacob, as well as the vine of Israel: for the wasters have made them waste and sent destruction on the branches of their vine. | Car l`Éternel rétablit la gloire de Jacob Et la gloire d`Israël, Parce que les pillards les ont pillés Et ont détruit leurs ceps.... |
| The body-covers of his fighting men have been made red, the men of war are clothed in bright red: the war-carriages are like flames of fire in the day when he gets ready, the horses are shaking. | Les boucliers de ses héros sont rouges, Les guerriers sont vêtus de pourpre; Avec le fer qui étincelle apparaissent les chars, Au jour qu`il a fixé pour la bataille, Et les lances sont agitées. |
| The war-carriages are rushing through the streets, pushing against one another in the wide ways, looking like burning lights, running like thunder-flames. | Les chars s`élancent dans la campagne, Se précipitent sur les places; A les voir, on dirait des flambeaux, Ils courent comme des éclairs... |
| He takes the record of his great men: they go falling on their way; they go quickly to the wall, the cover is made ready. | Ils se souvient de ses vaillants hommes, Mais ils chancellent dans leur marche; On se hâte vers les murs, Et l`on se prépare à la défense.... |
| The river doorways are forced open, and the king's house is flowing away. | Les portes des fleuves sont ouvertes, Et le palais s`écroule!... |
| And the queen is uncovered, she is taken away and her servant-girls are weeping like the sound of doves, hammering on their breasts. | C`en est fait: elle est mise à nu, elle est emmenée; Ses servantes gémissent comme des colombes, Et se frappent la poitrine. |
| But Nineveh is like a pool of water whose waters are flowing away; Keep your place, they say; but no one is turning back. | Ninive était jadis comme un réservoir plein d`eau.... Les voilà qui fuient.... Arrêtez! arrêtez!... Mais nul ne se retourne.... |
| Take silver, take gold; for there is no end to the store; take for yourselves a weight of things to be desired. | Pillez l`argent! pillez l`or! Il y a des trésors sans fin, Des richesses en objets précieux de toutes espèce. |
| Everything has been taken from her, all is gone, she has nothing more: the heart is turned to water, the knees are shaking, all are twisted in pain, and colour has gone from all faces. | On pille, on dévaste, on ravage! Et les coeurs sont abattus, Les genoux chancellent, Tous les reins souffrent, Tous les visages pâlissent. |
| Where is the lions' hole, the place where the young lions got their food, where the lion and the she-lion were walking with their young, without cause for fear? | Qu`est devenu ce repaire de lions, Ce pâturage des lionceaux, Où se retiraient le lion, la lionne, le petit du lion, Sans qu`il y eût personne pour les troubler? |
| Food enough for his young and for his she-lions was pulled down by the lion; his hole was full of flesh and his resting-place stored with meat. | Le lion déchirait pour ses petits, Étranglait pour ses lionnes; Il remplissait de proie ses antres, De dépouilles ses repaires. |
| See, I am against you, says the Lord of armies, and I will have your war-carriages burned in the smoke, and your young lions will be food for the sword: you will no longer get your food by force on the earth, and the voice of your she-lions will be stopped for ever. | Voici, j`en veux à toi, dit l`Éternel des armées; Je réduirai tes chars en fumée, L`épée dévorera tes lionceaux, J`arracherai du pays ta proie, Et l`on n`entendra plus la voix de tes messagers. |
