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2:1 The shatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts;watch the road;gird your loins;collect all your strength. 2:2 (For the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have stripped them and ruined their branches.) 2:3 The shield of his mighty men is red, his soldiers are clothed in scarlet. The chariots flash like flame when mustered in array;the chargers prance. 2:4 The chariots rage in the streets, they rush to and fro through the squares;they gleam like torches, they dart like lightning. 2:5 The officers are summoned, they stumble as they go, they hasten to the wall, the mantelet is set up. 2:6 The river gates are opened, the palace is in dismay; 2:7 its mistress is stripped, she is carried off, her maidens lamenting, moaning like doves, and beating their breasts. 2:8 Nin'eveh is like a pool whose waters run away. 'Halt! Halt!' they cry;but none turns back. 2:9 Plunder the silver, plunder the gold! There is no end of treasure, or wealth of every precious thing. 2:10 Desolate! Desolation and ruin! Hearts faint and knees tremble, anguish is on all loins, all faces grow pale! 2:11 Where is the lions' den, the cave of the young lions, where the lion brought his prey, where his cubs were, with none to disturb? 2:12 The lion tore enough for his whelps and strangled prey for his lionesses;he filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh. 2:13 Behold, I am against you, says 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 more be heard.