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General Information:
Nahum continues to speak to the people of Nineveh as though they were the city itself. (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy)
Go draw water for the siege ... pick up the molds for the bricks
Nahum speaks to the people of Nineveh. He tells them to prepare for battle and to repair the walls, although he knows that the enemy will destroy the city. (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-irony)
strengthen your fortresses
"repair the fortifications"
go into the clay and tread the mortar; pick up the molds for the bricks
These phrases refer to making mud bricks that they will use to repair the city's wall.
Fire will devour you there
Nahum speaks of fire burning and destroying as if it were eating. AT: "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. AT: "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. AT: "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.