Nahum 2
The Destruction of Nineveh
[1] The scatterer has come up against you.
Man the ramparts;
watch the road;
dress for battle;
collect all your strength.
[2] For the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob
as the majesty of Israel,
for plunderers have plundered them
and ruined their branches.
[3] The shield of his mighty men is red;
his soldiers are clothed in scarlet.
The chariots come with flashing metal
on the day he musters them;
the cypress spears are brandished.
[4] The chariots race madly through the streets;
they rush to and fro through the squares;
they gleam like torches;
they dart like lightning.
[5] He remembers his officers;
they stumble as they go,
they hasten to the wall;
the siege tower is set up.
[6] The river gates are opened;
the palace melts away;
[7] its mistress is stripped; she is carried off,
her slave girls lamenting,
moaning like doves
and beating their breasts.
[8] Nineveh is like a pool
whose waters run away.
“Halt! Halt!” they cry,
but none turns back.
[9] Plunder the silver,
plunder the gold!
There is no end of the treasure
or of the wealth of all precious things.
[10] Desolate! Desolation and ruin!
Hearts melt and knees tremble;
anguish is in all loins;
all faces grow pale!
[11] Where is the lions’ den,
the feeding place of the young lions,
where the lion and lioness went,
where his cubs were, with none to disturb?
[12] The lion tore enough for his cubs
and strangled prey for his lionesses;
he filled his caves with prey
and his dens with torn flesh.
[13] Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard. (ESV)
