Beginning

^6 (Q)Who can stand before his indignation?
    Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath ^(R)is poured out like fire,
    and ^(S)the rocks are broken into pieces by him.
^7 (T)The Lord is good,
    ^(U)a stronghold in the day of trouble;
^(V)he knows those who take refuge in him.
⁸     But ^(W)with an overflowing flood
he will make a complete end of the adversaries,^[a]
    and ^(X)will pursue his enemies into darkness.
⁹ What ^(Y)do you plot against the Lord?
    ^(Z)He will make a complete end;
    trouble will not rise up a second time.
¹⁰ For they are ^(AA)like entangled thorns,
    like drunkards as they drink;
    ^(AB)they are consumed like stubble fully dried.
¹¹ From you came one
    ^(AC)who plotted evil against the Lord,
    a worthless counselor.

¹² Thus says the Lord,
“Though they are at full strength and many,
    ^(AD)they will be cut down and pass away.
^(AE)Though I have afflicted you,
    I will afflict you no more.
¹³ And now ^(AF)I will break his yoke from off you
    and will burst your bonds apart.”

¹⁴ The Lord has given commandment about you:
    ^(AG)“No more shall your name be perpetuated;
from ^(AH)the house of your gods I will cut off
    the carved image and the metal image.
^(AI)I will make your grave, ^(AJ)for you are vile.”

^{15 [b] (AK)}Behold, upon the mountains, ^(AL)the feet of him
    who brings good news,
    who publishes peace!
^(AM)Keep your feasts, O Judah;
    ^(AN)fulfill your vows,
^(AO)for never again shall the worthless pass through you;
    he is utterly cut off.

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

³ The shield of his mighty men is red;
    ^(AT)his soldiers are clothed in scarlet.
The chariots come with flashing metal
    on the day he musters them;
    the cypress spears are brandished.
^4 (AU)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 ^(AV)his officers;
    ^(AW)they stumble as they go,
they hasten to the wall;
    the siege tower^[d] is set up.
^6 (AX)The river gates are opened;
    the palace ^(AY)melts away;
⁷ its mistress^[e] is ^(AZ)stripped;^[f] she is carried off,
    her slave girls ^(BA)lamenting,
moaning like doves
    and beating their breasts.
^8 (BB)Nineveh is like a pool
    whose waters run away.^[g]
“Halt! Halt!” they cry,
    but ^(BC)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 (BD)Desolate! Desolation and ruin!
    ^(BE)Hearts melt and ^(BF)knees tremble;
^(BG)anguish is in all loins;
    ^(BH)all faces grow pale!
¹¹ Where is the lions' den,
    the feeding place of ^(BI)the young lions,
where the lion and lioness went,
    where his cubs were, with ^(BJ)none to disturb?
^12 (BK)The lion tore enough for his cubs
    and ^(BL)strangled prey for his lionesses;
he filled his caves with prey
    and his dens with torn flesh.

^5 (BY)Behold, I am against you,
    declares the Lord of hosts,
    and ^(BZ)will lift up your skirts over your face;
and I will make nations look at ^(CA)your nakedness
    and kingdoms at your shame.
⁶ I will throw filth at you
    and ^(CB)treat you with contempt
    and make you ^(CC)a spectacle.
⁷ And all who look at you ^(CD)will shrink from you and say,
“Wasted is ^(CE)Nineveh; ^(CF)who will grieve for her?”
    ^(CG)Where shall I seek comforters for you?

^8 (CH)Are you better than ^(CI)Thebes^[i]
    that sat ^(CJ)by the Nile,
with water around her,
    her rampart a sea,
    and water her wall?
^9 (CK)Cush was her strength;
    Egypt too, and that without limit;
    ^(CL)Put and the ^(CM)Libyans were her^[j] helpers.

^10 (CN)Yet she became an exile;
    she went into captivity;
^(CO)her infants were dashed in pieces
    at the head of every street;
for her honored men ^(CP)lots were cast,
    ^(CQ)and all her great men were bound in chains.
^11 (CR)You also will be drunken;
    you will go into hiding;
^(CS)you will seek a refuge from the enemy.
¹² All your fortresses are ^(CT)like fig trees
    with first-ripe figs—
if shaken they fall
    into the mouth of the eater.
¹³ Behold, your troops
    ^(CU)are women in your midst.
The gates of your land
    are wide open to your enemies;
    fire has devoured your bars.

^14 (CV)Draw water for the siege;
    ^(CW)strengthen your forts;
go into the clay;
    tread the mortar;
    take hold of the brick mold!
¹⁵ There will the fire devour you;
    the sword will cut you off.
    It will ^(CX)devour you ^(CY)like the locust.
Multiply yourselves ^(CZ)like the locust;
    multiply ^(DA)like the grasshopper!
¹⁶ You increased ^(DB)your merchants
    more than the stars of the heavens.
    ^(DC)The locust spreads its wings and flies away.

¹⁷ Your ^(DD)princes are ^(DE)like grasshoppers,
    ^(DF)your scribes^[k] like clouds of locusts
settling on the fences
    in a day of cold—
when the sun rises, they fly away;
    no one knows where they are.

¹⁸ Your shepherds ^(DG)are asleep,
    O king of Assyria;
    ^(DH)your nobles slumber.
Your people ^(DI)are scattered on the mountains
    with none to gather them.
¹⁹ There is no easing your hurt;
    ^(DJ)your wound is grievous.
All who hear the news about you
    ^(DK)clap their hands over you.
For ^(DL)upon whom has not come
    your unceasing evil?