The Destruction of Nineveh
aThe scatterer has come up against you.
bMan the ramparts;
watch the road;
dress for battle;
collect all your strength.
2 For athe Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob
as the majesty of Israel,
for plunderers have plundered them
and bruined their branches.
3 The shield of his mighty men is red;
ahis soldiers are clothed in scarlet.
The chariots come with flashing metal
on the day he musters them;
the cypress spears are brandished.
4 aThe chariots race madly through the streets;
they rush to and fro through the squares;
they gleam like torches;
they dart like lightning.
5 He remembers ahis officers;
bthey stumble as they go,
they hasten to the wall;
the siege tower is set up.
6 aThe river gates are opened;
the palace bmelts away;
7 its mistress is astripped; she is carried off,
her slave girls blamenting,
moaning like doves
and beating their breasts.
8 aNineveh is like a pool
whose waters run away.
“Halt! Halt!” they cry,
but bnone turns back.
9 Plunder the silver,
plunder the gold!
There is no end of the treasure
or of the wealth of all precious things.
10 aDesolate! Desolation and ruin!
bHearts melt and cknees tremble;
danguish is in all loins;
eall faces grow pale!
11 Where is the lions’ den,
the feeding place of athe young lions,
where the lion and lioness went,
where his cubs were, with bnone to disturb?
12 aThe lion tore enough for his cubs
and bstrangled prey for his lionesses;
he filled his caves with prey
and his dens with torn flesh.
13 aBehold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and bI will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and cthe voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.