The Coming Invasion of Nineveh

1a You are being attacked by advancing forces!

Guard your rampart!

Watch your roads!b

Prepare yourselves!c

Marshall your defenses!d

2For the LORD will restore the glory of Jacob,

just as he will restoree the glory of Israel,

although plunderers have devastated them,

vandalizing their vine branches.

3The shields deployed byf Israel’sg elite forces are scarlet,

their valiant men are clothed in crimson.

When they are prepared,

the polished armament on their chariots will shine,

and lances will be brandished about ferociously.h

4Their chariots storm through the streets,

jostling each other along broad avenues.

They look like torches,

as they dart around like lightning.

5He will remember to summoni his finest troops.

They will stumble on their way,

hurrying over to Nineveh’sj wall.

Their defensive shield is in place.

6The river gates will be opened,

and the palace will collapse.

7It has been determined:

The womank is unveiled and sent away,

her servant girls mourn.

Beating their breasts,

they whimper like doves.

8Nineveh is a reservoir whose water is draining away.

“Wait! Wait!” they cry,l

yet not even one personm looks back.

9Take the silver! Take the gold!

There is no end to the treasure—

fabulous riches of every imagination.

10Ninevehn is devastated, deserted, and desolate.

Her heart melts, her knees knock.

Every stomach is upset,

every face grows pale.o

Nineveh: the Lion’s Den Destroyed

11Where is this lion’s den?

Where is the place where the young lions fed,

where the lion and its mate walked with their young,

the place where they feared nothing?

12This lion renders its prey to pieces to feed its whelps,

and strangles enough preyp for its mate,

filling its lairs with prey

and its dens with rendered flesh.

13“I am against you,” declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies,

“and I will send your chariots up in smoke.

A sword will devour your young lions,

I will eliminate your prey from the earth,

and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.”