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1The scatterer has come up against you. 2Man the ramparts; watch the road; dress for battle; collect all your strength.
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For 3the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and 4ruined their branches.
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The shield of his mighty men is red; 5his soldiers are clothed in scarlet. The chariots come with flashing metal on the day he musters them; the cypress spears are brandished.
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6The chariots race madly through the streets; they rush to and fro through the squares; they gleam like torches; they dart like lightning.
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He remembers 7his officers; 8they stumble as they go, they hasten to the wall; the siege tower is set up.
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9The river gates are opened; the palace 10melts away;
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its mistress is 11stripped; she is carried off, her slave girls 12lamenting, moaning like doves and beating their breasts.
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13Nineveh is like a pool whose waters run away. "Halt! Halt!" they cry, but 14none turns back.
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Plunder the silver, plunder the gold! There is no end of the treasure or of the wealth of all precious things.
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15Desolate! Desolation and ruin! 16Hearts melt and 17knees tremble; 18anguish is in all loins; 19all faces grow pale!
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Where is the lions' den, the feeding place of 20the young lions, where the lion and lioness went, where his cubs were, with 21none to disturb?
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22The lion tore enough for his cubs and 23strangled prey for his lionesses; he filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh.
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24Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and 25I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and 26the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.