en_tn/nam/03/16.md

General Information:

Nahum speaks to the people of Nineveh as though they were the city itself. (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy)

You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars in the heavens

This exaggeration emphasizes the great number of merchants who lived and worked in Nineveh. AT: "It is as if you have more merchants than there are stars in the sky" or "You have more merchants than anyone could count" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-hyperbole)

they are like young locusts: they plunder the land and then fly away

Nahum compares the way that these merchants, who have made their profit by selling their goods in Nineveh, will flee from the city when the battle begins with the way that locusts fly away after they have eaten all of the plants in their path. (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-simile)

your generals are like swarms of them that camp in the walls on a cold day. But when the sun rises they fly away

Nahum compares the way that the officials in Nineveh will flee when the battle starts with the way that locusts will remain still while it is cold, but will fly away when the sun rises and the air becomes warm. (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-simile)

to no one knows where

"and no one knows where they have gone"