2: 1 He that dasheth in pieces is come up against thee: fortify the fortress, watch the way, gird up thy loins, ⁷enliven thy power mightily.
⁷That is, put the military on high alert.

2: 2 For Jehovah restoreth the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out, and destroyed their vine branches.
2: 3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots ⁸flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the ⁹cypress spears are brandished.
⁸Hb. are with fire of steel
⁹Hb. cypress-trees

2: 4 The chariots rage in the streets; they rush to and fro in the broad ways: the appearance of them is like torches; they run like the lightnings.
2: 5 He remembereth his nobles: they stumble in their march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the mantelet is prepared.
2: 6 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.
2: 7 ¹⁰And it is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her handmaids ¹¹moan as with the voice of doves, beating upon their ¹²breasts.
¹⁰Or, Huzzab is uncovered,
¹¹Or, lead her as with the voice of doves,
¹²Hb. hearts.

2: 8 But Nineveh hath been ¹³from of old like a pool of water: yet they flee away. Stand, stand, they cry; but none ¹⁴looketh back.
¹³Or, from the days that she hath been like a pool
¹⁴Or, causeth them to turn.

2: 9 Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold; for there is no end of the store, the ¹⁵glory of all goodly furniture.
¹⁵Or, wealth

2: 10 She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all are waxed pale.
2: 11 Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion’s whelp, and none made them afraid?
2: 12 The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with prey, and his dens with ravin.
2: 13 Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions; and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.