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!