| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1The scatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts; watch the road; dress for battle; collect all your strength. | 1The watchmen of Nineveh shout: "An enemy who will scatter you is marching out to attack you!" "Guard the rampart! Watch the road! Prepare yourselves for battle! Muster your mighty strength!" |
| 2For the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and ruined their branches. | 2For the LORD will restore the majesty of Jacob, as well as the majesty of Israel, though their enemies have plundered them and have destroyed their fields. |
| 3The shield of his mighty men is red; his soldiers are clothed in scarlet. The chariots come with flashing metal on the day he musters them; the cypress spears are brandished. | 3The shields of his warriors are dyed red; the mighty soldiers are dressed in scarlet garments. The metal fittings of the chariots shine like fire on the day of battle; the soldiers brandish their spears. |
| 4The chariots race madly through the streets; they rush to and fro through the squares; they gleam like torches; they dart like lightning. | 4The chariots race madly through the streets, they rush back and forth in the broad plazas; they look like lightning bolts, they dash here and there like flashes of lightning. |
| 5He remembers his officers; they stumble as they go, they hasten to the wall; the siege tower is set up. | 5The commander orders his officers; they stumble as they advance; they rush to the city wall and they set up the covered siege tower. |
| 6The river gates are opened; the palace melts away; | 6The sluice gates are opened; the royal palace is deluged and dissolves. |
| 7its mistress is stripped; she is carried off, her slave girls lamenting, moaning like doves and beating their breasts. | 7Nineveh is taken into exile and is led away; her slave girls moan like doves while they beat their breasts. |
| 8Nineveh is like a pool whose waters run away. “Halt! Halt!” they cry, but none turns back. | 8Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days, but now her people are running away; she cries out: "Stop! Stop!"--but no one turns back. |
| 9Plunder the silver, plunder the gold! There is no end of the treasure or of the wealth of all precious things. | 9Her conquerors cry out: "Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!" There is no end to the treasure; riches of every kind of precious thing. |
| 10Desolate! Desolation and ruin! Hearts melt and knees tremble; anguish is in all loins; all faces grow pale! | 10Destruction, devastation, and desolation! Their hearts faint, their knees tremble, each stomach churns, each face turns pale! |
| 11Where is the lions’ den, the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and lioness went, where his cubs were, with none to disturb? | 11Where now is the den of the lions, the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion, lioness, and lion cub once prowled and no one disturbed them? |
| 12The lion tore enough for his cubs and strangled prey for his lionesses; he filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh. | 12The lion tore apart as much prey as his cubs needed and strangled prey to provide food for his lionesses; he filled his lairs with prey and his dens with torn flesh. |
| 13Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard. | 13"I am against you!" declares the LORD who commands armies: "I will burn your chariots with fire; the sword will devour your young lions; you will no longer prey upon the land; the voices of your messengers will no longer be heard." |
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