| NET Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1The watchmen of Nineveh shout: "An enemy who will scatter you is marching out to attack you!" "Guard the rampart! Watch the road! Prepare yourselves for battle! Muster your mighty 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 majesty of Jacob, as well as the majesty of Israel, though their enemies have plundered them and have destroyed their fields. | 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 warriors are dyed red; the mighty soldiers are dressed in scarlet garments. The metal fittings of the chariots shine like fire on the day of battle; the soldiers brandish their spears. | 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 through the streets, they rush back and forth in the broad plazas; they look like lightning bolts, they dash here and there like flashes of lightning. | 4The chariots race recklessly along the streets and rush wildly through the squares. They flash like firelight and move as swiftly as lightning. |
| 5The commander orders his officers; they stumble as they advance; they rush to the city wall and they set up the covered siege tower. | 5The king shouts to his officers; they stumble in their haste, rushing to the walls to set up their defenses. |
| 6The sluice gates are opened; the royal palace is deluged and dissolves. | 6The river gates have been torn open! The palace is about to collapse! |
| 7Nineveh is taken into exile and is led away; her slave girls moan like doves while they beat 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. |
| 8Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days, but now her people are running away; she cries out: "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. |
| 9Her conquerors cry out: "Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!" There is no end to the treasure; riches of every kind of precious thing. | 9Loot the silver! Plunder the gold! There’s no end to Nineveh’s treasures— its vast, uncounted wealth. |
| 10Destruction, devastation, and desolation! Their hearts faint, their knees tremble, each stomach churns, each face turns pale! | 10Soon the city is plundered, empty, and ruined. Hearts melt and knees shake. The people stand aghast, their faces pale and trembling. |
| 11Where now is the den of the lions, the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion, lioness, and lion cub once prowled and no one disturbed 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 apart as much prey as his cubs needed and strangled prey to provide food for his lionesses; he 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"I am against you!" declares the LORD who commands armies: "I will burn your chariots with fire; the sword will devour your young lions; you will no longer prey upon the land; the voices of your messengers will no longer 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.” |
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