1
he juggernaut's coming! Post guards, lay in supplies. Get yourselves together, get ready for the big battle.
2
God has restored the Pride of Jacob, the Pride of Israel. Israel's lived through hard times. He's been to hell and back.
3
Weapons flash in the sun, the soldiers splendid in battle dress, Chariots burnished and glistening, ready to charge, A spiked forest of brandished spears, lethal on the horizon.
4
The chariots pour into the streets. They fill the public squares, Flaming like torches in the sun, like lightning darting and flashing.
5
The Assyrian king rallies his men, but they stagger and stumble. They run to the ramparts to stem the tide, but it's too late.
6
Soldiers pour through the gates. The palace is demolished.
7
Soon it's all over: Nineveh stripped, Nineveh doomed, Maids and slaves moaning like doves, beating their breasts.
8
Nineveh is a tub from which they've pulled the plug. Cries go up, "Do something! Do something!" but it's too late. Nineveh's soon empty - nothing.
9
Other cries come: "Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! A bonanza of plunder! Take everything you want!"
10
Doom! Damnation! Desolation! Hearts sink, knees fold, stomachs retch, faces blanch.