2
1 Hinei, upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth Besorah (Good News),
that publisheth Shalom!
O Yehudah, keep thy chagim,
fulfill thy nedarim;
for the Beliya'al shall no more pass through thee;
he is utterly cut off.
2 A shatterer* is come up before thy face [O Nineveh];
guard thy fortress, watch the derech,
fortify thy loins, marshal all thy koach (power).
3 For Hashem is about to restore the eminence of Ya'akov,
like the eminence of Yisroel;
for plunderers have plundered them,
and made their vine branches as shachat.
4 The mogen (shield) of his gibborim is made red,
the anshei chayil (valiant men) are in scarlet;
the chariot shall flash like fire
in the day of its array,
and the spears shall be brandished.
5 The chariot shall rage in the streets,
they shall jostle one against another in the rechovot,
they shall seem like flaming torches,
they shall dart about like the lightnings.
6 He† shall remember his mighty ones;
they stumble in their walk;
they shall make haste to the chomah (wall) of it,‡
and the defense shall be prepared.
7 The sha'arei haneharot (the gates of the rivers) shall be thrown open,
and the heikhal (palace) reels.
8 Her§ golus (exile) is decreed, she shall be carried away,
her slave girls moaning like the kol yonim (voice of doves),
beating their breasts.
9 But Nineveh is like a pool of mayim;
and her mayim is draining away.
Stop, stop, shall they cry;
but no one turns back.
10 Take ye the plunder of kesef, take the plunder of zahav;
for there is no end of the treasures,
heaps of kol keli chemdah (every delightful vessel).
11 She is empty, and void, and stripped;
and the lev melteth,
and the knees give way,
bodies tremble,
and the faces of them all grow pale.
12 Where is the ma'on arayot (den of lions),
and the feeding place of the young lions,
where the aryeh, even the lioness,
walked with their cubs, and none made them afraid?
13 The aryeh did tear in pieces enough for his cubs,
and strangled for his lionesses,
and filled his lairs with prey,
and his dens with torn flesh.
14 Hineni, I am against thee [O Nineveh], saith Hashem Tzva'os, and I will burn your chariots in the smoke, and the cherev shall devour thy young lions; and I will cut off thy prey from ha'aretz, and the voice of thy malachim (messengers) shall no more be heard.
* 2:2 Ninevehʼs overpowering enemy † 2:6 the Assyrian king ‡ 2:6 Nineveh § 2:8 Ninevehʼs