At the sound of the horseman and bowman every city flees; They go into the thickets and climb up among the rocks; Every city is forsaken, And no man inhabits them.
Therefore Yahweh brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains, and took him to Babylon.
One thousand will flee at the threat of one man; You will flee at the threat of five, Until you are left as a flag on a mountain top And as a standard on a hill.
“Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen,” declares Yahweh, “and they will fish for them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill and from the crevices of the rocks.
“A lion has gone up from his thicket, And a destroyer of nations has set out; He has gone out from his place To make your land a desolation. Your cities will be turned into ruins Without inhabitant.
Then the city was breached, and all the men of war fled and went forth from the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah.
“They take hold of bow and spear; They are cruel and have no compassion; Their voice roars like the sea, And they ride on horses, Arranged as a man for the battle Against you, O daughter of Zion!”
I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said, “Strike the capitals so that the thresholds will quake, And break them on the heads of them all! Then I will kill the rest of them with the sword; Not one of them who can flee will flee, And not one of them who can survive will escape.
Now the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were hard-pressed). Then the people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in cliffs, in cellars, and in pits.