1
A destroyer has risen in front of your face; guard the ramparts, keep watch on the road, brace yourselves, marshall all your strength.
2
For ADONAI is restoring the pride of Ya'akov, along with the pride of Isra'el; because plunderers have plundered them and ravaged their vines.
3
The shields of [Ninveh's] warriors are [dyed] red; the soldiers are wearing scarlet. The steel of the chariots flashes like fire as they prepare for battle. The cypress [spears] are poisoned.
4
The chariots rush madly about in the streets, jostling each other in the open places; their appearance is like torches, they run here and there like lightning.
5
[The king of Ninveh] assigns his officers; they stumble as they march; they hurry to its wall and set up shields to protect the battering ram.
6
The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace melts away.
7
Its mistress is stripped and carried away; her handmaids moan, they sound like doves, as they beat their breasts.
8
Ninveh is like a pool whose water ebbs away. "Stop! Stop!" But none of it goes back.
9
Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! There is no end to the treasure, weighed down with precious things.
10
She is void, vacant; she is made bare. Hearts are melting, knees are knocking; every stomach is churning, every face is drained of color.