| 1 | An attacker advances against you, Nineveh. Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace yourselves, marshal all your strength! | |
| 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. | |
| 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. | |
| 4 | The chariots storm through the streets, rushing back and forth through the squares. They look like flaming torches; they dart about like lightning. | |
| 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. | |
| 6 | The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses. | |
| 7 | It is decreed that the city be exiled and carried away. Its slave girls moan like doves and beat upon their breasts. | |
| 8 | Nineveh is like a pool, and its water is draining away. "Stop! Stop!" they cry, but no one turns back. | |
| 9 | Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The supply is endless, the wealth from all its treasures! | |
| 10 | She is pillaged, plundered, stripped! Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows pale. | |
| 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? | |
| 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. | |
| 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." | |