The Destruction of the Wicked City The shatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts; watch the road; gird your loins; collect all your strength.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
It is all over with him, he has been removed, one who has been delivered from affliction has come up panting into thy presence, watch the way, strengthen thy loins, be very valiant in thy strength.
The shield of his mighty men is red, his soldiers are clothed in scarlet. The chariots flash like flame when mustered in array; the chargers prance.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
They have destroyed the arms of their power from among men, their mighty men sporting with fire: the reins of their chariots shall be destroyed in the day of his preparation, and the horsemen shall be thrown into confusion
The chariots rage in the streets, they rush to and fro through the squares; they gleam like torches, they dart like lightning.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
in the ways, and the chariots shall clash together, and shall be entangled in each other in the broad ways: their appearance is as lamps of fire, and as gleaming lightnings.
The officers are summoned, they stumble as they go, they hasten to the wall, the mantelet is set up.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
And their mighty men shall bethink themselves and flee by day; and they shall be weak as they go; and they shall hasten to her walls, and shall prepare their defences.
Desolate! Desolation and ruin! Hearts faint and knees tremble, anguish is on all loins, all faces grow pale!
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
There is thrusting forth, and shaking, and tumult, and heart-breaking, and loosing of knees, and pangs on all loins; and the faces of all are as the blackening of a pot.
Where is the lions’ den, the cave of the young lions, where the lion brought his prey, where his cubs were, with none to disturb?
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
Where is the dwelling-place of the lions, and the pasture that belonged to the whelps? where did the lion go, that the lion’s whelp should enter in there, and there was none to scare him away?
Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no more be heard.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord Almighty, and I will burn up thy multitude in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy lions; and I will utterly destroy thy prey from off the land, and thy deeds shall no more at all be heard of.