Read the Bible

¹ One who shatters^[a] has come up against you!
    Guard the fortification!
        Watch the road!^[b]
    Gird your loins!
        Muster^[c] all your strength!
² For Yahweh will restore the majesty of Jacob
    like the majesty of Israel;
for ravagers have ravaged them
    and ruined their branches.

³ The shields of his warriors are dyed red;
    The powerful men are dressed in scarlet.
The metal of the chariots^[d] shines like fire on the day of battle,^[e]
    and their spears quiver.
⁴ The chariots^[f] race madly through the streets;
    they rush back and forth in the public squares.
Their appearance like lightning bolts,
    they dart about like flashes of lightning.
⁵ He calls his officers;
    they stumble as they march;
they rush to her wall;
    they set the covering^[g] in place.
⁶ The gates of the river are opened;
    the palace trembles.
⁷ Her goddess is taken out and taken into exile;^[h]
    her maidservants moan like doves;
        they beat on their breasts.
⁸ Nineveh is like a pool of water without its water.^[i]
    As they flee,^[j] she cries, "Stop! Stop!"
        But there is no one who turns back.
⁹ Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!
    There is no end to the spoils,^[k]
        an abundance of everything one could want!^[l]
10 Emptiness and plundering and devastation!
    Their hearts faint and their knees tremble,^[m]
        All their loins shake^[n] and all their faces turn^[o] pale.

¹¹ Where now is the den of the lions
    and the cave of the fierce lions?
There the lioness, the cub, and the lion once prowled,^[p]
    and no one disturbed them.^[q]
12 The lion tore apart enough prey for his cubs,
    he strangled prey for his lioness;
he filled his lair^[r] with prey
    and his den with mangled carcass.
¹³ "Look! I am against you!" declares^[s] Yahweh of hosts.
    "I will burn her chariots with fire;^[t]
        the sword will devour fierce lions.
    I will cut off your prey from the earth;
        the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard."