Nineveh's enemies triumphant
    their soldiers are all in scarlet;
    their chariots, when the line is formed,
    are like flickering ^note fire;
4   squadrons of horse ^note advance on the city in mad frenzy; ^note
they jostle one another in the outskirts, like waving torches;
     5   the leaders display their prowess ^note
    as they dash to and fro like lightning,
    rushing ^note in headlong career;
they hasten to the wall, and mantelets are set in position.
6   The sluices of the rivers are opened, the palace topples down;
   7   the train of captives goes into exile,
    their slave-girls are carried off,
  moaning like doves and beating their breasts;
     8   and Nineveh has become like a pool of water,
  like the waters round her, which are ebbing away.
  ‘Stop! Stop!’ they cry; but none turns back.


9   Spoil is taken, spoil of silver and gold;
    there is no end to the store,
  treasure beyond the costliest that man can desire.
   10   Plundered, pillaged, stripped bare!
Courage melting and knees giving way,
writhing limbs, and faces drained of colour ^note!
     11   Where now is the lions' den,
  the cave ^note where the lion cubs lurked,
  where the lion and ^note lioness and young cubs
    went unafraid,
   12   the lion which killed to satisfy its whelps
  and for its mate broke the neck of the kill,
  mauling its prey to fill its lair,
    filling its den with the mauled prey?


13   I am against you, says the Lord of Hosts,
  I will smoke out your pride, ^note
  and a sword shall devour your cubs.
  I will leave you no more prey on the earth,
  and the sound of your feeding ^note shall no more be heard.

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