Nahum

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

² like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines.

³ 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.

⁴ rushing back and forth through the squares. They look like flaming torches; they dart about like lightning.

⁵ yet they stumble on their way. They dash to the city wall; the protective shield is put in place.

⁶ and the palace collapses.

⁷ be exiled and carried away. Its slave girls moan like doves and beat upon their breasts.

⁸ and its water is draining away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back.

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

¹⁰ Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows pale.

¹¹ the place where they fed their young, where the lion and lioness went, and the cubs, with nothing to fear?

¹² and strangled the prey for his mate, filling his lairs with the kill and his dens with the prey.

¹³ 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.”