Nahum 2

¹One who scatters advances against you, [O Nineveh]. Guard the fortress! Watch the road! Brace yourselves! Summon all your strength!

²For the LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and ruined the branches of their vine.

³The shields of his mighty men are red; the valiant warriors are dressed in scarlet. The fittings of the chariots flash like fire on the day they are prepared, and the spears of cypress have been brandished.

⁴The chariots dash through the streets; they rush around the plazas, appearing like torches, darting about like lightning.

⁵He summons his nobles; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place.

⁶The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.

⁷It is decreed that [the city] be exiled and carried away; her maidservants moan like doves, and beat upon their breasts.

⁸Nineveh has been like a pool of water throughout her days, but now it is draining away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back.

⁹“Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!” There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.

¹⁰She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!

¹¹Where is the lions’ lair or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled with [their] cubs, with nothing to frighten them away?

¹²The lion mauled enough for its cubs and strangled prey for the lioness. It filled its dens with the kill, and its lairs with mauled prey.

¹³“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will reduce your chariots to cinders, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.”