Nahum 2

The Fall of Nineveh

2Nineveh, you are under attack!

The power that will shatter you has come.

Prepare the defences!

Guard the road!

Prepare for battle!

²(The Lord is about to restore the glory of Israel, as it was before her enemies plundered her.)

³The enemy soldiers carry red shields

and wear uniforms of red.

They are preparing to attack!

Their chariots flash like fire!

Their horses^b prance!

⁴Chariots dash wildly through the streets,

rushing to and fro through the city squares.

They flash like torches

and dart about like lightning.

⁵The officers are summoned;

they stumble as they press forward.

The attackers rush to the wall

and set up the shield for the battering ram.

⁶The gates by the river burst open;

the palace is filled with terror.

⁷The queen is taken captive;

her servants moan like doves

and beat their breasts in sorrow.

⁸Like water from a broken dam

the people rush from Nineveh!^c

“Stop! Stop!” the cry rings out—

but no one turns back.

⁹Plunder the silver!

Plunder the gold!

The city is full of treasure!

¹⁰Nineveh is destroyed, deserted, desolate!

Hearts melt with fear;

knees tremble, strength is gone;

faces grow pale.

¹¹Where now is the city

that was like a den of lions,

the place

where young lions were fed, where the lion and the lioness would go

and their cubs would be safe?

¹²The lion killed his prey

and tore it to pieces for his mate and her cubs;

he filled his den with torn flesh.

¹³“I am your enemy!” says the Lord Almighty. “I will burn up your chariots. Your soldiers will be killed in war, and I will take away everything that you took from others. The demands of your envoys will no longer be heard.”