[1] He who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress!
Watch the way! Strengthen your loins! Fortify your power mightily! [2] For
Yahweh restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for
the destroyers have destroyed them, and ruined their vine branches. [3] The
shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The
chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the pine
spears are brandished. [4] The chariots rage in the streets. They rush back
and forth in the broad ways. Their appearance is like torches. They run
like the lightnings. [5] He summons his picked troops. They stumble on
their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in
place. [6] The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.
[7] It is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her handmaids
moan as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts. [8] But Nineveh
has been from of old like a pool of water, yet they flee away. "Stop!
Stop!" they cry, but no one looks back. [9] Take the spoil of silver. Take
the spoil of gold, for there is no end of the store, the glory of all
goodly furniture. [10] She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the
knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale. [11] Where is
the den of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the
lion and the lioness walked, the lion`s cubs, and no one made them afraid?
[12] The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled for his
lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill, and his dens with prey. [13]
"Behold, I am against you," says Yahweh of Hosts, "and I will burn her
chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions; and I
will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers
will no longer be heard."
