Nahum 2:1-7

1The one who will scatter you is coming to attack you. Guard your fortress! Keep a lookout on the road! Prepare for battle! Be very courageous!

2The Lord will restore Jacob’s glory like Israel’s glory, although enemies have looted it and have destroyed its vines.

3The shields of his warriors are painted red. His soldiers have red uniforms. The metal on his chariots flashes fiery red, so do the spears when they are waved on the day he prepares for battle.

4Chariots are racing madly through the streets, rushing this way and that in the city squares. They look like torches, like lightning, as they dart about.

5He remembers his best fighting men. They stumble over themselves as they march. They hurry to Nineveh’s wall. The shield has been set up for the battering ram.

6The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace melts away.

7The Lord has determined: “It will be stripped. It will be carried away. Its young women will be mourning like doves as they beat their breasts.”