2For Jehovah restoreth the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out, and destroyed their vine-branches.
3The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the cypress [spears] are brandished.
4The chariots rage in the streets; they rush to and fro in the broad ways: the appearance of them is like torches; they run like the lightnings.
5He remembereth his nobles: they stumble in their march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the mantelet is prepared.
6The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.
7And it is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, beating upon their breasts.
8But Nineveh hath been from of old like a pool of water: yet they flee away. Stand, stand, [they cry]; but none looketh back.
