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.”