| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1One who scatters is coming up against you. Man the fortifications! Watch the road! Brace yourself! Summon all your strength! | 1 You are being attacked by advancing forces! Guard your rampart! Watch your roads! Prepare yourselves! Marshall your defenses! |
| 2For the LORD will restore the majesty of Jacob, yes, the majesty of Israel, though ravagers have ravaged them and ruined their vine branches. | 2For the LORD will restore the glory of Jacob, just as he will restore the glory of Israel, although plunderers have devastated them, vandalizing their vine branches. |
| 3The shields of his warriors are dyed red; the valiant men are dressed in scarlet. The fittings of the chariot flash like fire on the day of its battle preparations, and the spears are brandished. | 3The shields deployed by Israel's 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. |
| 4The chariots dash madly through the streets; they rush around in the plazas. They look like torches; they dart back and forth like lightning. | 4Their chariots storm through the streets, jostling each other along broad avenues. They look like torches, as they dart around like lightning. |
| 5He gives orders to his officers; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place. | 5He will remember to summon his finest troops. They will stumble on their way, hurrying over to Nineveh's wall. Their defensive shield is in place. |
| 6The river gates are opened, and the palace erodes away. | 6The river gates will be opened, and the palace will collapse. |
| 7Beauty is stripped, she is carried away; her ladies-in-waiting moan like the sound of doves, and beat their breasts. | 7It has been determined: The woman is unveiled and sent away, her servant girls mourn. Beating their breasts, they whimper like doves. |
| 8Nineveh has been like a pool of water from her first days, but they are fleeing." Stop! Stop!" they cry, but no one turns back." | 8Nineveh is a reservoir whose water is draining away. "Wait! Wait!" they cry, yet not even one person looks back. |
| 9Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!" There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing. | 9Take the silver! Take the gold! There is no end to the treasure— fabulous riches of every imagination. |
| 10Desolation, decimation, devastation! Hearts melt, knees tremble, loins shake, every face grows pale! | 10Nineveh is devastated, deserted, and desolate. Her heart melts, her knees knock. Every stomach is upset, every face grows pale. |
| 11Where is the lions' lair, or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled, and the lion's cub, with nothing to frighten them away? | 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? |
| 12The lion mauled whatever its cubs needed and strangled prey for its lionesses. It filled up its dens with the kill, and its lairs with mauled prey. | 12This lion renders its prey to pieces to feed its whelps, and strangles enough prey for its mate, filling its lairs with prey and its dens with rendered flesh. |
| 13Beware, I am against you. This is the declaration of the LORD of Hosts. I will make your chariots go up in smoke and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the sound of your messengers will never be heard again. | 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." |
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