2:1 An attacker advances against you, Nineveh. Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace yourselves, marshal all your strength!

2:2 The LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines.

2:3 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.

2:4 The chariots storm through the streets, rushing back and forth through the squares. They look like flaming torches; they dart about like lightning.

2:5 He summons his picked troops, yet they stumble on their way. They dash to the city wall; the protective shield is put in place.

2:6 The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.

2:7 It is decreed that the city be exiled and carried away. Its slave girls moan like doves and beat upon their breasts.

2:8 Nineveh is like a pool, and its water is draining away. "Stop! Stop!" they cry, but no one turns back.

2:9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The supply is endless, the wealth from all its treasures!

2:10 She is pillaged, plundered, stripped! Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows pale.

2:11 Where now is the lions' den, the place where they fed their young, where the lion and lioness went, and the cubs, with nothing to fear?

2:12 The lion killed enough for his cubs and strangled the prey for his mate, filling his lairs with the kill and his dens with the prey.

2:13 "I am against you," declares the LORD Almighty. "I will burn up your chariots in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will leave you no prey on the earth. The voices of your messengers will no longer be heard."