The Destruction of Nineveh

2 oThe scatterer has come up against you.

pMan the ramparts;

watch the road;

dress for battle;1

collect all your strength.

2  For qthe Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob

as the majesty of Israel,

for plunderers have plundered them

and rruined their branches.

3  The shield of his mighty men is red;

shis soldiers are clothed in scarlet.

The chariots come with flashing metal

on the day he musters them;

the cypress spears are brandished.

4  tThe 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 uhis officers;

vthey stumble as they go,

they hasten to the wall;

the siege tower2 is set up.

6  wThe river gates are opened;

the palace xmelts away;

7  its mistress3 is ystripped;4 she is carried off,

her slave girls zlamenting,

moaning like doves

and beating their breasts.

8  bNineveh is like a pool

whose waters run away.5

“Halt! Halt!” they cry,

but cnone turns back.