Nahum 2

1One who scatters has come up against you. Guard the ramparts! Watch the road! Brace yourself! Summon all your strength!

2For Yahweh is restoring the majesty of Jacob, like the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and ruined their vine branches.

3The shields of his warriors are red; his soldiers are clothed in scarlet. The metal of the chariots flashes like fire on the day he musters them, and the spears of cypress are brandished.

4The chariots race madly through the streets; they rush back and forth in the squares. They look like torches; they dart about like lightning.

5He summons his officers; they stumble as they advance. They hurry to her wall, and the protective shield is set in place.

6The gates of the rivers are thrown open, and the palace melts away.

7It is decreed: she is stripped and carried away. Her slave women moan like the sound of doves and beat their breasts.

8Nineveh has been like a pool of water from her earliest days, but now they are fleeing. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back.

9Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! There is no end to the treasure, the wealth of every precious thing.

10Desolation, devastation, and ruin! Hearts melt, knees give way, every waist trembles, and every face turns pale.

11Where now is the lions’ den, the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and lioness walked, and the lion’s cub, with nothing to fear?

12The lion tore prey enough for his cubs and strangled prey for his lionesses. He filled his lairs with prey and his dens with torn flesh.

13I am against you, declares Yahweh of Armies. I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will be heard no more.