Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation enclose this verse in round brackets, and Good News Translation prints it in prose format, to show that it is different in theme from the surrounding verses. As pointed out above, several versions move this verse to join it to the end of chapter 1, with which it has more in common in theme.
For the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel: the verb translated is restoring is in the perfect tense in Hebrew (compare New Jerusalem Bible “has restored”). This is generally taken to be a “prophetic perfect,” in which the prophet speaks of something still future as though it had already happened. Thus Good News Translation says “The LORD is about to restore” (compare New American Bible, New English Bible, New International Version “will restore”). This sentence may also be rendered as “The LORD is about to cause Israel to regain its glory” or “The LORD is about to cause the people of Israel to regain their glory.”
The Hebrew word translated majesty is very similar to the Hebrew word for “vine,” and since the second half of the verse speaks about branches, some scholars think that the word for “vine” should be read in the first half of the verse. This view is followed by Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, and Moffatt. The vine is often used as a picture of the nation of Israel (Gen 49.22; Psa 80.8-16; Isa 5.1-7; Jer 2.21; 12.10; compare John 15.1-6), and the overall theme of this verse is not really changed, whichever wording is followed. The difference is basically between a literal expression (majesty) and a figurative one (“vine”).
The expression restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel can be puzzling. Jacob and Israel stand for the northern and southern kingdoms, though there is some disagreement as to which is which. There are three opinions. (1) Some scholars take Jacob to refer to the northern kingdom (destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.) and Israel to refer to the southern kingdom. They mention such passages as Amos 6.8; 8.7; and Micah 1.13-15 to support their view (New Jerusalem Bible). (2) Others take Jacob to refer to the southern kingdom and Israel to the northern, and mention passages like Isaiah 43.1; 44.1; 46.3; Obadiah 18; Micah 3.1, 8 for support (J. M. P. Smith, Lehrman). (3) Still others take the two terms together to refer to the entire nation, without distinguishing which is which (Gailey, Watts, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). The second opinion above seems the most probable. The prophet is saying that, through the fall of Assyria, the LORD will restore the former glory of Judah just as he had promised to restore that of Israel (for instance in Hos 14.5-7). The prophetic hope was that all the twelve tribes would be restored, not just the tribes of the south, and this idea remains even in the New Testament (Rev 7.4-8).
Good News Translation seems to follow the third of the three possibilities mentioned above. It drops the comparison of south with north and simply says “The LORD is about to restore the glory of Israel.” This does, however, seem to lose something of the original meaning. A fuller translation model can be: “The LORD is about to restore the glory of the people of Judah, just as he promised to restore the glory of the people of Israel.” The words majesty or “glory” are difficult terms to translate in many languages, for the meaning changes according to the particular linguistic context. Here “glory” seems to refer to “honor and power.” One can translate “The LORD is about to cause the people of Judah to regain their honor and power, just as he promised to do for the people of Israel.”
The second half of the verse speaks of conditions as they existed at the time: for plunderers have stripped them and ruined their branches. This refers to the long period during which Assyria had dominated Israel and Judah, and which is now about to end. The picture of the nation as a vine is explicit here in the use of the word branches. Good News Translation drops the figure of speech and runs the two parallel clauses into one, simply saying “as it was before her enemies plundered her.” If a translator wishes to keep the figure of the “vine,” he may say “as it was before her enemies had taken her possessions away by force, as people strip and ruin the branches of a vine.” Other possible translation models for this verse are: “The LORD is about to cause his people Israel to regain the honor and power which they had before their enemies took away all their possessions by force” or “Enemies took away by force all the possessions of the people of Israel, but now the LORD is going to give back to his people the honor and power they had before that happened.”
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A . A Handbook on the Book of Nahum. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1989. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .