Nahum 2:1-7

1 The shatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts; watch the road; gird your loins; collect all your strength.
2 (For the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have stripped them and ruined their branches.)
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.
4 The chariots rage in the streets, they rush to and fro through the squares; they gleam like torches, they dart like lightning.
5 The officers are summoned, they stumble as they go, they hasten to the wall, the mantelet is set up.
6 The river gates are opened, the palace is in dismay;
7 its mistress is stripped, she is carried off, her maidens lamenting, moaning like doves, and beating their breasts.
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.