The Overthrow of Nineveh

1The scaterer shal come vp agaynst the, & laye sege to the castell. Loke thou wel to the stretes, make thy loynes stronge, arme thy self with all thy myght:

2for the LORDE shal restore agayne the glory of Iacob, like as ye glory of Israel. The destroyers haue broken them downe, & marred the wyne braunches.

3The shylde of his giauntes glistereth, his men of warre are clothed in purple. His charettes are as fyre, when he maketh him forwarde, his archers are wel deckte & trimmed.

4The charettes rolle vpon the stretes, & welter in the hye wayes. They are to loke vpon like cressettes of fyre, and go swyftly, as the lightenynge.

5When he doth but warne his giauntes, they fall in their araye, & haistely they clymme vp the walles: yee the engyns of the warre are prepared all ready.

6The water portes shal be opened, and the kinges palace shall fall.

7The quene hir self shal be led awaye captyue, and hir gentilwomen shal mourne as the doues, & grone within their hertes.

8Niniue is like a pole full of water, but then shal they be fayne to fle. Stonde, stode, (shal they crie) & there shal not one turne backe.

9Awaye with the syluer, awaye with the golde: for here is no ende of treasure. There shalbe a multitude of all maner costly ornamentes.

10Thus must she be spoyled, emptied & clene striped out: that their hertes maye be melted awaye, their knees treble, all their loynes be weake, and their faces blacke as a pot.

11Where is now the dwellinge of the lyos, and the pasture of the lyons whelpes? where the lyon and the lyonesse wente with the whelpes, and no man frayed them awaye?

12But the lyon spoyled ynough for his yonge ones, and deuoured for his lyonesse: he fylled his dennes with his pray, & his dwellinge place with that he had rauysshed.

13Beholde, I wil vpon the (saieth the LORDE of hoostes) and wil set fyre vpon thy charettes, that they shal smoke withall, and the swerde shal deuoure thy yonge lyons. I wil make an ende of thy spoylinge from out of the earth, & the voyce of thy messaungers shall nomore be herde.