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The Destruction of Nineveh

 The scatterer has come up against you.
Man the ramparts;
watch the road;
dress for battle;^[a]
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^[b] is set up.
⁶ The river gates are opened;
the palace melts away;
⁷ its mistress^[c] is stripped;^[d] 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.^[e]
“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^[f] 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.

Footnotes:

1. Nahum 2:1 Hebrew gird your loins
2. Nahum 2:5 Or the mantelet
3. Nahum 2:7 The meaning of the Hebrew word rendered its mistress is uncertain
4. Nahum 2:7 Or exiled
5. Nahum 2:8 Compare Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
6. Nahum 2:13 Hebrew her

Cross references:

1. Nahum 2:1 : [Jer. 51:20]
2. Nahum 2:1 : [Jer. 51:12]
3. Nahum 2:2 : [Isa. 37:31]
4. Nahum 2:2 : See Ps. 80:8-13; Isa. 5:1-7
5. Nahum 2:3 : [Ezek. 23:14, 15]
6. Nahum 2:4 : [ch. 3:2]
7. Nahum 2:5 : ch. 3:18
8. Nahum 2:5 : Jer. 46:12
9. Nahum 2:6 : [Isa. 45:1]
10. Nahum 2:6 : [Isa. 14:31]
11. Nahum 2:7 : [Isa. 22:8]
12. Nahum 2:7 : Isa. 38:14
13. Nahum 2:8 : See ch. 1:1
14. Nahum 2:8 : Jer. 46:5
15. Nahum 2:10 : See Zeph. 2:13-15
16. Nahum 2:10 : Ps. 22:14; Isa. 13:7
17. Nahum 2:10 : Dan. 5:6
18. Nahum 2:10 : Isa. 21:3
19. Nahum 2:10 : Joel 2:6
20. Nahum 2:11 : Isa. 5:29; Jer. 2:15
21. Nahum 2:11 : See Isa. 17:2
22. Nahum 2:12 : [Ezek. 19:3]
23. Nahum 2:12 : [ver. 9; ch. 3:1]
24. Nahum 2:13 : ch. 3:5; [Zeph. 2:5]; See Ezek. 13:8
25. Nahum 2:13 : [Ps. 46:9]
26. Nahum 2:13 : [2 Kgs. 19:9, 23]