The Destruction of Nineveh

1The scatterer has come up against you.

Man the ramparts;

watch the road;

dress for battle;2:1 Hebrew gird your loins

collect all your strength.

2For the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob

as the majesty of Israel,

for plunderers have plundered them

and ruined their branches.

3The shield of his mighty men is red;

his soldiers are clothed in scarlet.

The chariots come with flashing metal

on the day he musters them;

the cypress spears are brandished.

4The chariots race madly through the streets;

they rush to and fro through the squares;

they gleam like torches;

they dart like lightning.

5He remembers his officers;

they stumble as they go,

they hasten to the wall;

the siege tower2:5 Or the mantelet is set up.

6The river gates are opened;

the palace melts away;

7its mistress2:7 The meaning of the Hebrew word rendered its mistress is uncertain is stripped;2:7 Or exiled she is carried off,

her slave girls lamenting,

moaning like doves

and beating their breasts.

8Nineveh is like a pool

whose waters run away.2:8 Compare Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

“Halt! Halt!” they cry,

but none turns back.

9Plunder the silver,

plunder the gold!

There is no end of the treasure

or of the wealth of all precious things.

10Desolate! Desolation and ruin!

Hearts melt and knees tremble;

anguish is in all loins;

all faces grow pale!

11Where is the lions' den,

the feeding place of the young lions,

where the lion and lioness went,

where his cubs were, with none to disturb?

12The lion tore enough for his cubs

and strangled prey for his lionesses;

he filled his caves with prey

and his dens with torn flesh.

13Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will burn your2:13 Hebrew her chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.