1 C ome up hath a scatterer to thy face, Keep the bulwark, watch the way, Strengthen the loins, strengthen power mightily.

He 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.

2 F or turned back hath Jehovah to the excellency of Jacob, As the excellency of Israel, For emptied them out have emptiers, And their branches they have marred.

For 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.

3 T he shield of his mighty ones is become red, Men of might scarlet, With fiery torches the chariot in a day of his preparation, And the firs have been caused to tremble.

The 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.

4 I n out-places shine do the chariots, They go to and fro in broad places, Their appearances like torches, As lightnings they run.

The 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.

5 H e doth remember his honourable ones, They stumble in their goings, They hasten its wall, and prepared is the covering.

remembers 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.

6 G ates of the rivers have been opened, And the palace is dissolved.

The gates or dams of the rivers are opened and the palace is dissolved and is in dismay.

7 A nd it is established -- she hath removed, She hath been brought up, And her handmaids are leading as the voice of doves, Tabering on their hearts.

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

8 A nd Nineveh as a pool of waters, From of old it -- and they are fleeing! `Stand ye, stand;' and none is turning!

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

9 S eize ye silver, seize ye gold, And there is no end to the prepared things, the abundance of all desirable vessels.

Take 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.

10 S he is empty, yea, emptiness and waste, And the heart hath melted, And the knees have smitten together, And great pain in all loins, And the faces of all of them have gathered paleness.

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

11 W here the habitation of lionesses? And a feeding-place it for young lions Where walked hath a lion, an old lion, A lion's whelp, and there is none troubling.

Where 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?

12 T he lion is tearing parts his whelps, And is strangling for his lionesses, And he doth fill prey his holes, And his habitations rapine.

The 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.

13 L o, I against thee, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts, And I have burned in smoke its chariot, And thy young lions consume doth a sword, And I have cut off from the land thy prey, And not heard any more is the voice of thy messengers!

Behold, 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.