Nahum 2:1-13

Nineveh, an attacker is poised to advance against you. Place your guards along the top of the walls; set lookouts on the road. Go ahead, get ready for battle; gather all your forces, but it will be in vain. For YAHWEH is about to restore the majesty of Jacob and Israel her glory. For you have plundered everything and ruined their vineyards. The invading soldiers’ shields are scarlet, each warrior robed in red. The metal of the Babylonian chariots gleams like fire on the day they are made ready for battle, and the wooden spears are brandished in anticipation. The chariots race madly through the streets of Nineveh; they dash wildly through the public squares, gleaming like torches, darting like lightning. The king of Assyria summons his elite commanders, but they stumble while attempting to advance. The attackers run swiftly to the city wall; the protective canopy for the battering ram is set up. The floodgates are opened; the royal palace is inundated by the surging torrent and collapses. Nineveh is stripped, taken captive, and carried into exile. Her maidservants moan like doves and beat their breasts in sorrow. The people rush out of Nineveh like water pours out of a broken dam. The officers shout, “Stop! Stop!” but no one turns back. Plunder the silver, plunder the gold! Look! There is no end of the treasure — heaps of every precious thing. Desolation! Devastation! Destruction! Hearts melting, knees knocking, stomachs churning, faces turning pale. What has happened now to the lions’ den where the fierce lions were fed, where the lion and lioness once lived, where the cubs frolicked, cozy and fearless? Like a lion, Assyria once killed his prey and tore it to pieces, filling his cave with meat for his mate and her cubs. “Behold, I am your enemy,” declares YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies. “I will burn your chariots to ashes, and the sword will slaughter your young lions. No longer will you prey upon the land, and your messengers will announce no more victories.”