2:1 An attacker advances against you, Nineveh. Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace yourselves, marshal all your strength!
2:2 The LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines.
2:3 The shields of his soldiers are red; the warriors are clad in scarlet. The metal on the chariots flashes on the day they are made ready; the spears of pine are brandished.
2:4 The chariots storm through the streets, rushing back and forth through the squares. They look like flaming torches; they dart about like lightning.
2:5 He summons his picked troops, yet they stumble on their way. They dash to the city wall; the protective shield is put in place.
2:6 The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.
2:7 It is decreed that the city be exiled and carried away. Its slave girls moan like doves and beat upon their breasts.
2:8 Nineveh is like a pool, and its water is draining away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back.
2:9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The supply is endless, the wealth from all its treasures!
2:10 She is pillaged, plundered, stripped! Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows pale.
2:11 Where now is the lions’ den, the place where they fed their young, where the lion and lioness went, and the cubs, with nothing to fear?
2:12 The lion killed enough for his cubs and strangled the prey for his mate, filling his lairs with the kill and his dens with the prey.
2:13 “I am against you,” declares the LORD Almighty. “I will burn up your chariots in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will leave you no prey on the earth. The voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.”
2:1 He who scatters has come up before you: / Keep the fortress, / Watch the way, / Strengthen the loins, / Fortify the power greatly.
2:2 For Jehovah restores / The excellency of Jacob / As the excellency of Israel; / For the emptiers have emptied them out / And destroyed their vine branches.
2:3 The shield of His mighty men is red; / The valiant men are clad in scarlet; / The chariots flash with the shining of steel / In the day of His preparation, / And the spears are brandished.
2:4 In the streets the chariots rush madly; / They dash to and fro in the open squares; / Their appearance is like that of torches; / They dart like lightning.
2:5 The Assyrian king remembers his glorious ones: / They stumble in their march; / They hasten to the wall of the city, / But the besiegers’ shelter is prepared.
2:6 The gates of the rivers are opened, / And the palace is dissolved.
2:7 And it is determined: She is uncovered; she is carried away; / And her maidens moan, / As with the sound of doves, / Beating their breasts.
2:8 Though Nineveh has been like a pool of water all her days, / Now they are fleeing. / Stand! Stand! But no one turns back.
2:9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! / And there is no end to what has been prepared. / Oh, the glory of all the desirable vessels!
2:10 Emptiness and void and waste! / And the heart melts, and the knees knock, / And anguish is in all the loins, / And the faces of all of them become pale.
2:11 Where is the den of lions / And the feeding place of young lions, / Where the lion and the lioness walked, / And the lion’s whelp; and no one frightened them?
2:12 The lion tore in pieces, enough for his whelps, / And strangled for his lioness / And filled his caves with torn prey / And his dens with torn animals.
2:13 Indeed I am against you, / Declares Jehovah of hosts; / And I will burn your chariots in smoke, / And the sword will devour your young lions; / And I will cut off your prey from the earth; / And the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.