1.2 KiB
Fire will devour you there
Nahum speaks of fire burning and destroying as if it were eating. Alternate translation: "Fire will destroy you there" or "Your enemies will burn you with fire there" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor)
the sword will destroy you
Here the word "sword" is a metonym for the enemies who will attack with swords. Alternate translation: "your enemies will kill you with their swords" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy)
It will devour you as young locusts devour everything
The word "It" refers to the "sword," which is personified as eating those whom it kills. The soldiers using their swords to kill everyone in Nineveh is compared with the way that a swarm of locusts eats every plant in its path. Alternate translation: "Your enemies' swords will kill all of you, just as easily as a swarm of locusts devours everything in its path" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-personification and rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-simile)
Make yourselves as many as the young locusts, as many as the full-grown locusts
These words begin a new paragraph where Nahum compares the number of people in Nineveh with the large number of locusts in a swarm.