Read the Bible

^1 (2:2) The watchmen of Nineveh shout:
"An enemy who will scatter you is marching out to attack you!"
"Guard the rampart!
Watch the road!
Prepare yourselves for battle!
Muster your mighty strength!"
² For the Lord will restore the majesty of Jacob,
as well as the majesty of Israel,
though their enemies have plundered them
and have destroyed their fields.

³ The shields of his warriors are dyed red;
the mighty soldiers are dressed in scarlet garments.
The metal fittings of the chariots shine
like fire on the day of battle;
the soldiers brandish their spears.
⁴ The chariots race madly through the streets,
they rush back and forth in the broad plazas;
they look like lightning bolts,
they dash here and there like flashes of lightning.
⁵ The commander orders his officers;
they stumble as they advance;
they rush to the city wall
and they set up the covered siege tower.
⁶ The sluice gates are opened;
the royal palace is deluged and dissolves.
⁷ Nineveh is taken into exile and is led away;
her slave girls moan like doves while they beat their breasts.
⁸ Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days,
but now her people are running away;
she cries out: "Stop! Stop!"—
but no one turns back.
⁹ Her conquerors cry out:
"Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!"
There is no end to the treasure;
riches of every kind of precious thing.
¹⁰ Destruction, devastation, and desolation!
Their hearts faint,
their knees tremble,
each stomach churns, each face turns pale!

¹¹ Where now is the den of the lions,
the feeding place of the young lions,
where the lion, lioness, and lion cub once prowled
and no one disturbed them?
¹² The lion tore apart as much prey as his cubs needed
and strangled prey to provide food for his lionesses;
he filled his lairs with prey
and his dens with torn flesh.

¹³ "I am against you!" declares the Lord who commands armies:
"I will burn your chariots with fire;
the sword will devour your young lions;
you will no longer prey upon the land;
the voices of your messengers will no longer be heard."