| New King James Version | NET Bible |
| 1He who scatters has come up before your face. Man the fort! Watch the road! Strengthen your flanks! Fortify your power mightily. | 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 will restore the excellence of Jacob Like the excellence of Israel, For the emptiers have emptied them out And ruined their vine 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 shields of his mighty men are made red, The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots come with flaming torches In the day of his preparation, And the 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 rage in the streets, They jostle one another in the broad roads; They seem like torches, They run 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 nobles; They stumble in their walk; They make haste to her walls, And the defense is prepared. | 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 gates of the rivers are opened, And the palace is dissolved. | 6The sluice gates are opened; the royal palace is deluged and dissolves. |
| 7It is decreed: She shall be led away captive, She shall be brought up; And her maidservants shall lead her as with the voice of doves, Beating their breasts. | 7Nineveh is taken into exile and is led away; her slave girls moan like doves while they beat their breasts. |
| 8Though Nineveh of old was like a pool of water, Now they flee away. “Halt! Halt!” they cry; But no one 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. |
| 9Take spoil of silver! Take spoil of gold! There is no end of treasure, Or wealth of every desirable prize. | 9Her conquerors cry out: "Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!" There is no end to the treasure; riches of every kind of precious thing. |
| 10She is empty, desolate, and waste! The heart melts, and the knees shake; Much pain is in every side, And all their faces are drained of color. | 10Destruction, devastation, and desolation! Their hearts faint, their knees tremble, each stomach churns, each face turns pale! |
| 11Where is the dwelling of the lions, And the feeding place of the young lions, Where the lion walked, the lioness and lion’s cub, And no one made them afraid? | 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 in pieces enough for his cubs, Killed for his lionesses, Filled his caves with prey, And his dens with 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. |
| 13“Behold, I am against you,” says the LORD of hosts, “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 be heard no more.” | 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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