1 He that dasheth in pieces is come up against thee: keep the fortress, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.
2 For Jehovah restoreth the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out, and destroyed their vine-branches.
3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the cypress `spears' are brandished.
4 The chariots rage in the streets; they rush to and fro in the broad ways: the appearance of them is like torches; they run like the lightnings.
5 He remembereth his nobles: they stumble in their march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the mantelet is prepared.
6 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.
7 And it is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, beating upon their breasts.
8 But Nineveh hath been from of old like a pool of water: yet they flee away. Stand, stand, `they cry'; but none looketh back.
9 Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold; for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture.
10 She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all are waxed pale.