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

1. Hebrew Strengthen your loins!

² For 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.

³ The 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.¹

1. Hebrew; alternately, the spears may be of pine or juniper or fir; LXX and Syriac they are prepared, and the horsemen rush to and fro.

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

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

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

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

⁸ Nineveh 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.

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

¹¹ Where 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?

¹² The 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 send your chariots up in smoke, 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.”