1 {One who shatters} has come up against you! Guard [the] fortification! Watch [the] road! Gird [your] loins! {Muster} all [your] strength!
2 For Yahweh will restore the majesty of Jacob like the majesty of Israel; for ravagers have ravaged them and ruined [their] branches.
3 The shields of his warriors [are] dyed red; The powerful men [are] dressed in scarlet. The metal of the chariots [shines] like fire {on the day of battle}, and [their] spears quiver.
4 The chariots race madly through the streets; they rush back and forth in the public squares. Their appearance like lightning bolts, they dart about like flashes of lightning.
5 He calls his officers; they stumble as they march; they rush to her wall; they set the covering in place.
6 The gates of the river are opened; the palace trembles.
7 {Her goddess is taken out and taken into exile}; her maidservants moan like doves; they beat on their breasts.
8 Nineveh [is] like a pool of water without its water. {As they flee}, [she cries,] "Stop! Stop!" But there is no one who turns back.
9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! There is no end to the spoils, an abundance of {everything one could want}!
10 Emptiness and plundering and devastation! Their hearts faint and their knees tremble, {All their loins shake} and all their faces {turn} pale.
11 Where [now] [is] the den of [the] lions and [the] cave of the fierce lions? There the lioness, the cub, and the lion once {prowled}, {and no one disturbed them}.
12 The lion tore apart enough [prey] for his cubs, he strangled [prey] for his lioness; he filled {his lair} [with] prey and his den [with] mangled carcass.
13 "Look! I am against you!" {declares} Yahweh of hosts. "I will burn her chariots {with fire}; the sword will devour fierce lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth; the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard."