Good News for Judah

1 Look, on the mountains of the land of Israel are the feet of the one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your festivals, Judah, fulfill your vows, because the wicked will never pass through you again. They are all cut off.

2 Those who were coming up and spreading over your land were laying siege to you, setting guards on your roads. Strengthen your neck, and make your strength very firm. 3 For the Lord is restoring Jacob’s strength and Israel’s glory, because plunderers have plundered them and destroyed the cities that were their pride.

The Fall of Nineveh

4 The shields of their warriors are dyed red, and the men of war are dressed in scarlet. The torches of their chariots are made ready with fire for the day of their display. The leaders of their army are dressed in splendid clothing. 5 The chariots race madly through the streets, and the sound of their clashing weapons is heard in the city squares. They look like torches, like flashing lightning.

6 The leaders of their army are put in command, and they stumble as they go. They hurry, they lay the wall, and they build the towers. 7 The⁠a bridges of the rivers are broken down, and the king trembles in his palace.

8 The queen, seated in a litter, goes into captivity, and her maids follow her, moaning like the sound of doves and beating their breasts.

9 Though Nineveh has been like a reservoir of water from the days of old, now they are fleeing. “Stand! Stand!” But no one turns back to stand. 10 Plunder the silver, plunder the gold! There is no end to the treasures.

11 Gather all the precious things. The gate is plundered and stripped and opened to the enemy. Hearts melt and knees knock, and there is anguish in every body, and all their faces are covered with blackness, black as a pot.

12 Where are the⁠b dwellings of the kings and the residence of the princes, where the kings walked? There they left their sons, like a lion that stays by its prey in safety, with no one to frighten it. 13 The kings brought booty to their wives and captured goods to their sons, and filled their treasuries with booty and their palace with treasure.

14 “Look, I am about to send my fury on you,” says the Lord of Hosts, “and I will burn up your chariots with fire, and the sword will destroy your villages. I will wipe your commerce from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will be heard no more.”