The Overthrow of Nineveh

1 1The one who ascatters has come up against 2you.

Man the fortress, watch the road;

3Strengthen your back, 4summon all your strength.

2 For the Lord will restore the asplendor of Jacob

bLike the splendor of Israel,

Even though devastators have devastated them

And cdestroyed their vine branches.

3 The shields of 1his mighty men are colored red,

The warriors are dressed in ascarlet,

The chariots are enveloped in 2flashing steel

3When he is prepared to march,

And the cypress bspears are brandished.

4 The achariots race madly in the streets,

They rush wildly in the 1squares,

Their appearance is like torches,

They dash to and fro like lightning flashes.

5 He remembers his anobles;

They bstumble in their march,

They hurry to her wall,

And the 1mantelet is set up.

6 The gates of the rivers are opened

And the palace is dissolved.

7 It is fixed:

She is stripped, she is carried away,

And her handmaids are amoaning like the sound of doves,

bBeating on their 1breasts.

8 Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days,

Now they are fleeing;

“Stop, stop,”

But ano one turns back.

9 Plunder the silver!

Plunder the agold!

For there is no limit to the treasure—

Wealth from every kind of desirable object.

10 She is aemptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste!

bHearts are melting and knees knocking!

Also anguish is in 1the whole body

And all their cfaces are grown 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 disturb them?

12 The lion tore enough for his cubs,

1Killed enough for his lionesses,

And filled his lairs with prey

And his dens with torn flesh.

13 “Behold, aI am against you,” declares the Lord of hosts. “I will bburn up her chariots in smoke, a sword will devour your young lions; I will ccut off your prey from the land, and no longer will the voice of your messengers be heard.”