Yahweh’s Destruction of Nineveh
The one who ascatters has come up against you.
Guard the fortification, watch the road;
Strengthen your loins, instill your power with exceeding courage.
2 For Yahweh will restore the amajesty of Jacob
bLike the majesty of Israel,
Even though those who empty them have emptied them to destruction
And cruined their vine branches.
3 The shields of his mighty men are colored red,
The valiant men are dressed in ascarlet,
The chariots are enveloped in flashing steel
When he is set up to march,
And the cypress bspears are brandished.
4 The achariots race madly in the streets;
They rush wildly in the squares;
Their appearance is like torches;
They dash to and fro like lightning flashes.
5 He remembers his amighty ones;
They bstumble in their march;
They hurry to her wall,
And the mantelet is set up.
6 The gates of the rivers are opened,
And the palace is melted away.
7 So it stands fixed:
She is exiled, she is carried away,
And her maidservants are amoaning like the sound of doves,
bBeating on their hearts.
8 Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days,
Now they are fleeing;
“Stand! Stand!”
But ano one turns back.
9 Plunder the silver!
Plunder the agold!
And there is no limit to the treasure—
Wealth from every kind of desirable object.
10 She is aemptied! Yes, she is emptied out and eviscerated!
bHearts are melting and knees knocking!
Also anguish is in all their loins,
And all their cfaces turn pale!
11 Where is the den of the lions
And the feeding place of the ayoung lions,
Where the lion, lioness, and lion’s cub prowled,
With nothing to make them tremble?
12 The lion tore enough for its cubs
And strangled enough for its lionesses
And filled its lairs with torn up prey
And its dens with torn up flesh.
13 “Behold, aI am against you,” declares Yahweh of hosts. “And I will bburn up her chariots in smoke, and a sword will devour your young lions; and I will ccut off your prey from the land, and no longer will the voice of your messengers be heard.”