1 One who shatters has come up against you! Guard the fortification! Watch the road! Gird your loins! Muster all your strength!
2 For Yahweh will restore the majesty of Jacob like the majesty of Israel; for ravagers have ravaged them and ruined their branches.
3 The shields of his warriors are dyed red; The powerful men are dressed in scarlet. The metal of the chariots shines like fire on the day of battle, and their spears quiver.
4 The chariots race madly through the streets; they rush back and forth in the public squares. Their appearance like lightning bolts, they dart about like flashes of lightning.
5 He calls his officers; they stumble as they march; they rush to her wall; they set the covering in place.
6 The gates of the river are opened; the palace trembles.
7 Her goddess is taken out and taken into exile; her maidservants moan like doves; they beat on their breasts.
8 Nineveh is like a pool of water without its water. As they flee, she cries, “Stop! Stop!” But there is no one who turns back.
9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! There is no end to the spoils, an abundance of everything one could want!
10 Emptiness and plundering and devastation! Their hearts faint and their knees tremble, All their loins shake and all their faces turn pale.
11 Where now is the den of the lions and the cave of the fierce lions? There the lioness, the cub, and the lion once prowled, and no one disturbed them.
12 The lion tore apart enough prey for his cubs, he strangled prey for his lioness; he filled his lair with prey and his den with mangled carcass.
13 “Look! I am against you!” declares Yahweh of hosts. “I will burn her chariots with fire; the sword will devour fierce lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth; the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.”