2 ^(1:15) Look! On the mountains are the feet
of him who brings good news, proclaiming shalom.
Keep your festivals, Y’hudah, fulfill your vows;
for B’liya‘al will never pass through you again;
he has been completely destroyed.
^2 (1) A destroyer has risen in front of your face;
guard the ramparts, keep watch on the road,
brace yourselves, marshall all your strength.
^3 (2) For Adonai is restoring the pride of Ya‘akov,
along with the pride of Isra’el;
because plunderers have plundered them
and ravaged their vines.

^4 (3) The shields of [Ninveh’s] warriors are [dyed] red;
the soldiers are wearing scarlet.
The steel of the chariots flashes like fire
as they prepare for battle.
The cypress [spears] are poisoned.
^5 (4) The chariots rush madly about in the streets,
jostling each other in the open places;
their appearance is like torches,
they run here and there like lightning.

^6 (5) [The king of Ninveh] assigns his officers;
they stumble as they march;
they hurry to its wall and set up shields
to protect the battering ram.
^7 (6) The gates of the rivers are opened,
and the palace melts away.
^8 (7) Its mistress is stripped and carried away;
her handmaids moan, they sound like doves,
as they beat their breasts.

^9 (8) Ninveh is like a pool whose water ebbs away.
“Stop! Stop!” But none of it goes back.
^10 (9) Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!
There is no end to the treasure,
weighed down with precious things.
^11 (10) She is void, vacant; she is made bare.
Hearts are melting, knees are knocking;
every stomach is churning,
every face is drained of color.
^12 (11) What has become of the lion’s den,
the cave where the young lions fed,
where lion and lioness walked with their cubs,
and no one made them afraid?
^13 (12) The lion would tear up food for his cubs
and strangle prey for his lionesses;
he used to fill his caves with prey,
his lairs with torn flesh.

^14 (13) “I am against you,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
“Her chariots I will send up in smoke,
the sword will consume your lion cubs,
I will destroy your prey from the earth,
and your envoys’ voices will be heard no more.”