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¹²Thus saith the Lord:

Though they be in full strength, and likewise many,

Even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pass away;

And though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.

¹³And now will I break his yoke from off thee,

And will burst thy bonds in sunder.

 

¹⁴And the Lord hath given commandment concerning thee,

That no more of thy name be sown;

Out of the house of thy god will I cut off

The graven image and the molten image;

I will make thy grave; for thou art become worthless.

 

2Behold upon the mountains the feet of him

That bringeth good tidings, that announceth peace!

Keep thy feasts, O Judah,

Perform thy vows;

For the wicked one shall no more pass through thee;

He is utterly cut off.

 

²A maul is come up before thy face;

Guard the defences,

Watch the way, make thy loins strong,

Fortify thy power mightily!—

³For the Lord restoreth the pride of Jacob,

As the pride of Israel;

For the emptiers have emptied them out,

And marred their vine-branches.—

⁴The shield of his mighty men is made red,

The valiant men are in scarlet;

The chariots are fire of steel in the day of his preparation,

And the cypress spears are made to quiver.

⁵The chariots rush madly in the streets,

They jostle one against another in the broad places;

The appearance of them is like torches,

They run to and fro like the lightnings.

 

⁶He bethinketh himself of his worthies;

They stumble in their march;

They make haste to the wall thereof,

And the mantelet is prepared.

⁷The gates of the rivers are opened,

And the palace is dissolved.

⁸And the queen is uncovered, she is carried away,

And her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves,

Tabering upon their breasts.

 

⁹But Nineveh hath been from of old like a pool of water;

Yet they flee away;

'Stand, stand';

But none looketh back.

¹⁰Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold;

For there is no end of the store,

Rich with all precious vessels.

¹¹She is empty, and void, and waste;

And the heart melteth, and the knees smite together,

And convulsion is in all loins,

And the faces of them all have gathered blackness.

 

¹²Where is the den of the lions,

Which was the feeding-place of the young lions,

Where the lion and the lioness walked,

And the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?

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