Nineveh's Hour of Reckoning
The siege arrives: red shields, chariots darting like lightning, the river gates forced, the palace down, the queen carried off while her maids beat their chests. Assyria was a lion that filled its den with torn flesh; the Father of heaven's armies says he is against it.
2 1The scatterer has come up against you, Nineveh. Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace yourself, marshal all your strength!
2For our Father is restoring the majesty of Jacob, like the majesty of Israel, though plunderers have stripped them bare and ruined their branches. a a v2 Even in a book of judgment on Nineveh, the heart of it is our Father restoring the honor of his battered children.
3The shields of his warriors are dyed red, the valiant men are clothed in scarlet; the chariots flash like fire on the day they are made ready, and the spears of cypress are brandished. 4The chariots storm through the streets, they rush back and forth in the squares; they look like torches, they dart like lightning. 5He summons his officers; they stumble as they march; they hurry to the wall, and the protective shield is set in place. 6The river gates are thrown open, and the palace collapses. 7It is decreed: she is stripped bare and carried away, while her servant girls moan like doves, beating their chests. 8Nineveh is like a pool whose waters are draining away. "Stop! Stop!" they cry, but no one turns back. 9Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing. 10Emptiness and desolation and ruin! Hearts melt, knees give way, anguish grips every body, and every face grows pale.
11Where now is the lions' den, the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled, and the lion's cubs, with no one to make them afraid? 12The lion tore enough for his cubs and strangled prey for his lionesses; he filled his lairs with the kill and his dens with torn flesh.
13"See, I am against you," declares the Father of heaven's armies. "I will send your chariots up in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will be heard no more."
