Nahum 2:1-8

English Standard Version

The Destruction of Nineveh

2 ^(A)The scatterer has come up against you.
    ^(B)Man the ramparts;
    watch the road;
dress for battle;^[a]
    collect all your strength.

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

³The shield of his mighty men is red;
    ^(E)his soldiers are clothed in scarlet.
The chariots come with flashing metal
    on the day he musters them;
    the cypress spears are brandished.
⁴^(F)The chariots race madly through the streets;
    they rush to and fro through the squares;
they gleam like torches;
    they dart like lightning.
⁵He remembers ^(G)his officers;
    ^(H)they stumble as they go,
they hasten to the wall;
    the siege tower^[b] is set up.
⁶^(I)The river gates are opened;
    the palace ^(J)melts away;
⁷its mistress^[c] is ^(K)stripped;^[d] she is carried off,
    her slave girls ^(L)lamenting,
moaning like doves
    and beating their breasts.
⁸^(M)Nineveh is like a pool
    whose waters run away.^[e]
“Halt! Halt!” they cry,
    but ^(N)none turns back.