1 ¶ The destroyer is risen up against thee: keep the fortress, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy 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 shall restore the glory of Jacob as the glory of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out and marred 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 shield of his valiant ones shall be red, the men of his army are in scarlet, the chariot as fire of torches in the day which shall be made ready; the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.

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 shall rage in the streets; they shall flow through the streets, their faces like torches; they shall run like the lightnings.

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

5 H e shall remember his valiant ones; they shall stumble in their walk when they make haste to their wall, and the covering shall be prepared.

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 of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be destroyed.

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

7 A nd the queen shall be taken captive; they shall order her to go up, and her maids shall take her, mourning as with the voice of 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 was of old like a pool of water; but now they flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but no one looks back.

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 riches; honour, more than all the desirable furniture.

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

10 S he is empty and worn out and is in pieces, and the heart melted, the knees smite together, and much pain is in the kidneys, and the faces of them all gather blackness.

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 ¶ What of the dwelling of the lions and of the feeding place of the young lions where the lion and the lioness walked and the lion’s whelps, and no one 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 and filled his holes with prey and his dens with robbery.

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 speak unto thee, saith the LORD of the hosts, and I will burn and reduce thy chariots into smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions; and I will cut off thy robbery from the earth, and the voice of thy ambassadors shall never be heard again.

“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.”