For while princes are perplexed, And with their drink are drunken, They have been consumed as stubble fully dried.

Thus said Jehovah: Though complete, and thus many, Yet thus they have been cut off, And he hath passed away. And I afflicted thee, I afflict thee no more.

Look! A herald is running on the mountains! A messenger is proclaiming deliverance: "Celebrate your sacred festivals, O Judah! Fulfill your sacred vows to praise God! For never again will the wicked Assyrians invade you, they have been completely destroyed."

For turned back hath Jehovah to the excellency of Jacob, As to the excellency of Israel, For emptied them out have emptiers, And their branches they have marred.

The shields deployed by Israel's elite forces are scarlet, their valiant men are clothed in crimson. When they are prepared, the polished armament on their chariots will shine, and lances will be brandished about ferociously.

In out-places shine do the chariots, They go to and fro in broad places, Their appearances are like torches, As lightnings they run.

He doth remember his honourable ones, They stumble in their goings, They hasten to its wall, and prepared is the covering.

And, Huzzab, hath been taken captive - hath been led up, - and, her handmaids, are making a moan like the sound of doves, as they taber upon their heart.

And Nineveh is as a pool of waters, From of old it is -- and they are fleeing! 'Stand ye, stand;' and none is turning!

They plundered silver, they plundered gold: and no end to her splendid equipage; glory from all the vessels of desire.

Where is this lion's den? Where is the place where the young lions fed, where the lion and its mate walked with their young, the place where they feared nothing?

Behold, I will upon thee, sayeth the LORD of Hosts, and will set fire upon thy chariots that they shall smoke withal, and the sword shall devour thy young lions. I will make an end of thy spoiling from out of the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.

And the flame of a sword, and the lightning of a spear, And the abundance of the wounded, And the weight of carcases, Yea, there is no end to the bodies, They stumble over their bodies.

Yea, all they that look upon thee shall start back, and say, "Nineveh is destroyed!" Who will have pity upon thee? Where shall I seek one to comfort thee?

Even she doth become an exile, She hath gone into captivity, Even her sucklings are dashed to pieces At the top of all out-places, And for her honoured ones they cast a lot, And all her great ones have been bound in fetters.

All thy fortresses are fig-trees with first-fruits, If they are shaken, They have fallen into the mouth of the eater.

Look at your people they are women! Your borders stand wide open to your enemies, while fire consumes the bars of your gates."

Thy merchants have been numbered with the stars of heaven: but now shall they spread abroad as the locusts, and flee their way.

Thy crowned ones are as a locust, And thy princes as great grasshoppers, That encamp in hedges in a day of cold, The sun hath risen, and it doth flee away, And not known is its place where they are.

Thy wound cannot be hid, thy plague is so sore. All they that hear this of thee, shall clap their hands over thee. For what is he, to whom thou hast not always been doing hurt?