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Nahum 2

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1 2 He who scatters has come·​·up before thy face. Preserve the siege, watch the way, make·​·firm thy loins, encourage thy power exceedingly.

2 3 For Jehovah has turned·​·back the pride of Jacob, as the pride of Israel; for they who exhaust have exhausted them, and destroyed their sprigs.

3 4 The shield of his heroes* is made red, the men of valor are made scarlet; in the fire of torches is the chariot, in the day of his preparation, and the fir·​·trees shall be·​·in·​·trepidation.

4 5 The chariots shall rave in the streets; they shall jostle against each other in the avenues; their appearance shall be as torches; they shall run as the lightnings.

5 6 He shall remember his magnificent ones; they shall stumble in their walking; they shall make·​·haste to her wall, and the shelter shall be prepared.

6 7 The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.

7 8 And Huzzab shall be exiled, she shall be brought·​·up, and her maidservants shall direct her as the voice of doves, playing·​·on·​·timbrels on their hearts.

8 9 But Nineveh was as a pool of water from the days that she was; but now they shall flee. Stand, Stand, they cry, but none shall turn· their ·face.

9 10 Plunder silver, Plunder gold; and there is no end to the dimension of glory from all the vessels of desire.

10 11 She exhausts, and is·​·exhausted, and emptied·​·out; and the heart melts, and there is staggering at the knees, and travailing in all the loins, and the faces of all of them bring·​·together a blackening.

11 12 Where is the abode of the lions, and the feeding·​·place—it was for the young·​·lionsWhere the lion, the old·​·lion walked, and the whelp of a lion, and none frightened them?

12 13 The lion tore enough for his whelps, and strangled for his old·​·lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his abodes with what is torn.

13 14 Behold, I am against thee, says Jehovah of Armies, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall eat·​·up thy young·​·lions; and I will cut·​·off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall not be heard any·​·more.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Restore

  

Everyone knows the phrase "the natural order of things." It means that everything is in its proper place, occupying the niche it is meant to fill. There is also the phrase "the spiritual order of things," meaning that every spiritual thing is in its proper spiritual place, occupying the spiritual niche it is meant to fill. This is, of course, what the Lord intends for us, and happens when we accept life and love from Him by willing what is good and acting according to truth. Of course, things are frequently out of order, because even the best of us indulge in unhealthy self-obsession and attachment to the material world. Ideally, we will repeatedly turn to the Lord and ask for His help with the cleanup, putting things back where they belong in the "spiritual order of things." This is what is meant when the Bible talks about restoring things -- it means putting them back into their proper spiritual place.