The Overthrow of Nineveh

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

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

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

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

5He doth remember his honourable ones, They stumble in their goings, They hasten [to] its wall, and prepared is the covering.

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

7And 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.

8And Nineveh [is] as a pool of waters, From of old it [is]—and they are fleeing! ‘Stand ye, stand;’ and none is turning!

9Seize ye silver, seize ye gold, And there is no end to the prepared things, [To] the abundance of all desirable vessels.

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

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

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

13Lo, I [am] 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!