This is the heavy burden of Nineveh, which Nahum of Elkosh did write, as he saw it.

The LORD is slow to anger and powerful, and he will never let the guilty go unpunished. The LORD's path is in the windstorm and hurricane; thunderclouds are dust beneath his feet.

He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.

But with an overwhelming flood [of judgment through invading armies]
He will make a complete destruction of its site
And will pursue His enemies into darkness.

Like tangled thorn branches [gathered for fuel],
And like those drowned in drunkenness,
The people of Nineveh are consumed [through fire]
Like stubble completely withered and dry [in the day of the Lord’s wrath].

Thus saith Jehovah: Though they be in full strength, and likewise many, even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pass away. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.

Now I will break off Assyria's yoke from you, and tear apart your shackles."

Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news [telling of Assyria’s destruction],
Who announces peace and prosperity!
Celebrate your feasts, O Judah;
Perform your vows.
For the wicked one [the king of Assyria] will never again pass through you;
He is completely cut off.

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.

He remembers and summons his nobles;
They stumble in their march [terrified because of the attack].
They hurry to the city wall,
And the mantelet is prepared and firmly set up.

The river doorways are forced open, and the king's house is flowing away.

But Nineveh is like a pool of water whose waters are flowing away; Keep your place, they say; but no one is turning back.

Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?

See, I am against you, says the Lord of armies, and I will have your war-carriages burned in the smoke, and your young lions will be food for the sword: you will no longer get your food by force on the earth, and the voice of your she-lions will be stopped for ever.

Horsemen uplifting both the flashing sword, and the lightning spear, Aye, a mass of slain, and a weight of dead bridles, - and no end of corpses, so that they stumble upon their corpses.

See, I am against you, says the Lord of armies, and I will have your skirts pulled over your face, and let the nations see you unclothed, and the kingdoms your shame.

And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?

Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?

You too [Nineveh] will become drunk [with the cup of God’s wrath];
You will be hidden.
You too [Nineveh] will search [in vain] for a refuge from the enemy.

All your defenses are like fig trees with ripe early fruit when shaken, it falls right into the devourer's mouth.

See, the people who are in you are women; the doorways of your land are wide open to your attackers: the locks of your doors have been burned away in the fire.

Get water for the time when you are shut in, make strong your towns: go into the potter's earth, stamping it down with your feet, make strong the brickworks.

yet the fire shall consume thee, the sword shall destroy thee. Yea, as the locust doth, so shall it eat thee up. It shall fall heavily upon thee as the locusts, yea right heavily shall it fall upon thee, even as the grasshoppers.

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?