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New International Version (NIV) |
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1 The shatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts; watch the road; gird your loins; collect all your strength.
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1 An attacker advances against you, [Nineveh]. Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace yourselves, marshal all your strength!
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2 (For the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have stripped them and ruined their branches.)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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4 The chariots rage in the streets, they rush to and fro through the squares; they gleam like torches, they dart like lightning.
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4 The chariots storm through the streets, rushing back and forth through the squares. They look like flaming torches; they dart about like lightning.
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5 The officers are summoned, they stumble as they go, they hasten to the wall, the mantelet is set up.
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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.
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6 The river gates are opened, the palace is in dismay;
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6 The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.
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7 its mistress is stripped, she is carried off, her maidens lamenting, moaning like doves, and beating their breasts.
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7 It is decreed that [the city] be exiled and carried away. Its slave girls moan like doves and beat upon their breasts.
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8 Nin'eveh is like a pool whose waters run away. "Halt! Halt!" they cry; but none turns back.
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8 Nineveh is like a pool, and its water is draining away. "Stop! Stop!" they cry, but no one turns back.
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9 Plunder the silver, plunder the gold! There is no end of treasure, or wealth of every precious thing.
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9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The supply is endless, the wealth from all its treasures!
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10 Desolate! Desolation and ruin! Hearts faint and knees tremble, anguish is on all loins, all faces grow pale!
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10 She is pillaged, plundered, stripped! Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows pale.
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| Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. (Revised Standard Version - Holy Bible) |
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online) |
