| New American Standard Bible 1995 | New Living Translation |
| 1The one who scatters has come up against you. Man the fortress, watch the road; Strengthen your back, summon all your strength. | 1 Your enemy is coming to crush you, Nineveh. Man the ramparts! Watch the roads! Prepare your defenses! Call out your forces! |
| 2For the LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob Like the splendor of Israel, Even though devastators have devastated them And destroyed their vine branches. | 2Even though the destroyer has destroyed Judah, the LORD will restore its honor. Israel’s vine has been stripped of branches, but he will restore its splendor. |
| 3The shields of his mighty men are colored red, The warriors are dressed in scarlet, The chariots are enveloped in flashing steel When he is prepared to march, And the cypress spears are brandished. | 3Shields flash red in the sunlight! See the scarlet uniforms of the valiant troops! Watch as their glittering chariots move into position, with a forest of spears waving above them. |
| 4The chariots race madly in the streets, They rush wildly in the squares, Their appearance is like torches, They dash to and fro like lightning flashes. | 4The chariots race recklessly along the streets and rush wildly through the squares. They flash like firelight and move as swiftly as lightning. |
| 5He remembers his nobles; They stumble in their march, They hurry to her wall, And the mantelet is set up. | 5The king shouts to his officers; they stumble in their haste, rushing to the walls to set up their defenses. |
| 6The gates of the rivers are opened And the palace is dissolved. | 6The river gates have been torn open! The palace is about to collapse! |
| 7It is fixed: She is stripped, she is carried away, And her handmaids are moaning like the sound of doves, Beating on their breasts. | 7Nineveh’s exile has been decreed, and all the servant girls mourn its capture. They moan like doves and beat their breasts in sorrow. |
| 8Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days, Now they are fleeing; "Stop, stop," But no one turns back. | 8Nineveh is like a leaking water reservoir! The people are slipping away. “Stop, stop!” someone shouts, but no one even looks back. |
| 9Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! For there is no limit to the treasure-- Wealth from every kind of desirable object. | 9Loot the silver! Plunder the gold! There’s no end to Nineveh’s treasures— its vast, uncounted wealth. |
| 10She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste! Hearts are melting and knees knocking! Also anguish is in the whole body And all their faces are grown pale! | 10Soon the city is plundered, empty, and ruined. Hearts melt and knees shake. The people stand aghast, their faces pale and trembling. |
| 11Where is the den of the lions And the feeding place of the young lions, Where the lion, lioness and lion's cub prowled, With nothing to disturb them? | 11Where now is that great Nineveh, that den filled with young lions? It was a place where people—like lions and their cubs— walked freely and without fear. |
| 12The lion tore enough for his cubs, Killed enough for his lionesses, And filled his lairs with prey And his dens with torn flesh. | 12The lion tore up meat for his cubs and strangled prey for his mate. He filled his den with prey, his caverns with his plunder. |
| 13"Behold, I am against you," declares the LORD of hosts. "I will burn up her chariots in smoke, a sword will devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the land, and no longer will the voice of your messengers be heard." | 13“I am your enemy!” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “Your chariots will soon go up in smoke. Your young men will be killed in battle. Never again will you plunder conquered nations. The voices of your proud messengers will be heard no more.” |
| New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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