^1. An attacker advances against you, [Nineveh]. Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace yourselves, marshal all your strength!

^2. The LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines.

^3. The shields of his soldiers are red; the warriors are clad in scarlet. The metal on the chariots flashes on the day they are made ready; the spears of pine are brandished. [1]

^4. The chariots storm through the streets, rushing back and forth through the squares. They look like flaming torches; they dart about like lightning.

^5. He summons his picked troops, yet they stumble on their way. They dash to the city wall; the protective shield is put in place.

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

^7. It is decreed [2] that [the city] be exiled and carried away. Its slave girls moan like doves and beat upon their breasts.

^8. Nineveh is like a pool, and its water is draining away. "Stop! Stop!" they cry, but no one turns back.

^9. Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The supply is endless, the wealth from all its treasures!

^10. She is pillaged, plundered, stripped! Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows pale.

^11. Where now is the lions' den, the place where they fed their young, where the lion and lioness went, and the cubs, with nothing to fear?

^12. The lion killed enough for his cubs and strangled the prey for his mate, filling his lairs with the kill and his dens with the prey.

^13. "I am against you," declares the LORD Almighty. "I will burn up your chariots in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will leave you no prey on the earth. The voices of your messengers will no longer be heard."