Nahum 2:3-3:7

English Standard Version

³The shield of his mighty men is red;
    ^(A)his soldiers are clothed in scarlet.
The chariots come with flashing metal
    on the day he musters them;
    the cypress spears are brandished.
⁴^(B)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 ^(C)his officers;
    ^(D)they stumble as they go,
they hasten to the wall;
    the siege tower^[a] is set up.
⁶^(E)The river gates are opened;
    the palace ^(F)melts away;
⁷its mistress^[b] is ^(G)stripped;^[c] she is carried off,
    her slave girls ^(H)lamenting,
moaning like doves
    and beating their breasts.
⁸^(I)Nineveh is like a pool
    whose waters run away.^[d]
“Halt! Halt!” they cry,
    but ^(J)none turns back.
⁹Plunder the silver,
    plunder the gold!
There is no end of the treasure
    or of the wealth of all precious things.

¹⁰^(K)Desolate! Desolation and ruin!
    ^(L)Hearts melt and ^(M)knees tremble;
^(N)anguish is in all loins;
    ^(O)all faces grow pale!
¹¹Where is the lions' den,
    the feeding place of ^(P)the young lions,
where the lion and lioness went,
    where his cubs were, with ^(Q)none to disturb?
¹²^(R)The lion tore enough for his cubs
    and ^(S)strangled prey for his lionesses;
he filled his caves with prey
    and his dens with torn flesh.

¹³^(T)Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and ^(U)I will burn your^[e] chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and ^(V)the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.

Woe to Nineveh

3 Woe to ^(W)the bloody city,
    all full of lies and plunder—
    ^(X)no end to the prey!
²The crack of the whip, and ^(Y)rumble of the wheel,
    ^(Z)galloping horse and ^(AA)bounding chariot!
³Horsemen charging,
    flashing sword and ^(AB)glittering spear,
^(AC)hosts of slain,
    heaps of corpses,
dead bodies without end—
    they stumble over the bodies!
⁴And all for the countless whorings of the ^(AD)prostitute,
    ^(AE)graceful and of deadly charms,
who betrays nations with her whorings,
    and peoples with her charms.

⁵^(AF)Behold, I am against you,
    declares the Lord of hosts,
    and ^(AG)will lift up your skirts over your face;
and I will make nations look at ^(AH)your nakedness
    and kingdoms at your shame.
⁶I will throw filth at you
    and ^(AI)treat you with contempt
    and make you ^(AJ)a spectacle.
⁷And all who look at you ^(AK)will shrink from you and say,
“Wasted is ^(AL)Nineveh; ^(AM)who will grieve for her?”
    ^(AN)Where shall I seek comforters for you?