1 H e who dashes in pieces is come up before your face. Keep the fortress and ramparts manned, watch the road, gird your loins, collect and fortify all your strength and power mightily.

The one who destroys has come against you, O Nineveh. Put men on the battle-walls. Watch the road. Be strong. Be ready for battle.

2 F or the Lord restores the excellency of Jacob as the excellency of Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and emptied them out and destroyed their vine branches.

For the Lord will make Jacob great again, like the greatness of Israel, even when destroyers have destroyed them and their vine branches.

3 T he shields of the mighty men are red; the valiant men are in dyed scarlet. The chariots blaze with fire of steel on the day of his preparation, and the officers’ horses prance like a cypress forest.

The battle-coverings of his strong men are red. His men of war are dressed in red. The war-wagons shine like fire when they are made ready. The cypress spears are waved.

4 T he chariots rage in confusion in the streets; they run to and fro in the broad ways. They flash with steel; they rush like forked lightnings.

The war-wagons race in the streets. They rush through the city. They look like fire and move like lightning.

5 r emembers and summons his bravest men; they stumble in their march. They hasten to the city’s wall, and their movable defense shelter is prepared and set up.

The leaders are called. They lose their step as they go, and hurry to the wall. The battle-covering is set up.

6 T he gates or dams of the rivers are opened and the palace is dissolved and is in dismay.

The river gates are opened, and the king’s house falls down.

7 I t is decreed. She is stripped and removed, and her maids are lamenting and moaning like doves, beating upon their breasts.

The city is laid waste and the people are carried away. Her women servants are crying like doves, beating on their breasts.

8 A nd Nineveh, like a standing pool are her waters and are fleeing away! Stand! Stand, but no one looks back or causes them to return.

Nineveh is like a pool, where water runs away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry. But no one turns back.

9 T ake the spoil of silver; take the spoil of gold! For there is no end of the treasure, the glory and wealth of all the precious furnishings.

Take the silver! Take the gold! For there is no end of the riches, every kind of thing of great worth.

10 E mptiness! Desolation! Utter waste! Hearts faint and knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of all grow pale!

Everything has been taken from her! Yes, she is an empty waste! Hearts are melting in fear and knees are knocking! All bodies suffer, and all their faces turn white!

11 W here is the den of the lions which was the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, and the lion’s whelp, and none made them afraid?

Where is the home of the lions, the place where they feed their young, where the male and female and young lions went, with nothing to be afraid of?

12 T he lion tore in pieces enough for his whelps and strangled for his lionesses; he filled his caves with prey and his dens with what he had seized and carried off.

The lion killed enough for his young, and for his female lions. He filled his home with food, with torn flesh.

13 B ehold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. And I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no more be heard.

“I am against you,” says the Lord of All. “I will burn up your war-wagons in smoke. A sword will destroy your young lions. I will cut off your food from the land. And the voice of your men who came with news will never be heard again.”