² For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob
    as the majesty of Israel,
for plunderers have plundered them
    and ruined their branches.

³ The 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.
⁴ The chariots race madly through the streets;
    they rush to and fro through the squares;
they gleam like torches;
    they dart like lightning.
⁵ He remembers his officers;
    they stumble as they go,
they hasten to the wall;
    the siege tower^[b] is set up.
⁶ The river gates are opened;
    the palace melts away;
⁷ its mistress^[c] is stripped;^[d] she is carried off,
    her slave girls lamenting,
moaning like doves
    and beating their breasts.
⁸ Nineveh is like a pool
    whose waters run away.^[e]
“Halt! Halt!” they cry,
    but none turns back.
⁹ Plunder the silver,
    plunder the gold!
There is no end of the treasure
    or of the wealth of all precious things.

¹⁰ Desolate! Desolation and ruin!
    Hearts melt and knees tremble;
anguish is in all loins;
    all faces grow pale!
¹¹ Where 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?
¹² The lion tore enough for his cubs
    and strangled prey for his lionesses;
he filled his caves with prey
    and his dens with torn flesh.