Woe to Nineveh
aWoe to the city of bloodshed, completely full of deception and pillage;
Her prey never departs.
2 The asound of the whip,
And the sound of the rumbling of the wheel,
Galloping horses,
And bounding chariots!
3 Horsemen charging,
And swords flaming, and aspears flashing,
bMany slain, a mass of corpses,
And cthere is no end to dead bodies—
They stumble over the dead bodies!
4 All because of the amany harlotries of the harlot,
The charming one, the bmistress of sorceries,
Who csells nations by her harlotries
And families by her sorceries.
5 “Behold, aI am against you,” declares Yahweh of hosts;
“And I will buncover your skirts over your face
And cshow to the nations your nakedness
And to the kingdoms your disgrace.
6 I will athrow detestable filth on you
And bdisplay you as a wicked fool
And set you up as a cspectacle.
7 And it will be that all who see you
Will flee from you and say,
‘Nineveh is devastated!
aWho will console her?’
Where will I seek comforters for you?”
8 Are you better than aNo‑amon,
Which sits along the bwaters of the Nile,
With water surrounding her,
Whose rampart was the sea,
Whose wall consisted of the sea?
9 aEthiopia was her might,
And Egypt too, without end.
bPut and cLubim were among her helpers.
10 Yet she abecame an exile;
She went into captivity;
Also her binfants were dashed to pieces
cAt the head of every street;
They dcast lots for her honorable men,
And all her great men were bound with fetters.
11 You too will become adrunk;
You will be bhidden.
You too will search for a strong defense from the enemy.
12 All your fortifications are afig trees with bripe fruit—
When shaken, they fall into the eater’s mouth.
13 Behold, your people are awomen in your midst!
The gates of your land are bopened wide to your enemies;
Fire consumes your gate bars.
14 aDraw for yourself water for the siege!
bStrengthen your fortifications!
Go into the clay and tread the mortar!
Take hold of the brick mold!
15 There, afire will consume you;
The sword will cut you down;
It will bconsume you as the locust does.
Multiply yourself like the creeping locust,
Multiply yourself like the swarming locust.
16 You have increased your atraders more than the stars of heaven—
The creeping locust strips and flies away.
17 Your aguardsmen are like the swarming locust.
Your bmarshals are like a locust‑swarm
Encamping in the stone walls on a cold day.
The sun rises, and they flee,
And the place where they are is not known.
18 Your shepherds are asleeping, O bking of Assyria;
Your cmighty ones are lying down.
Your people are dscattered on the mountains,
And there is no one to regather them.
19 There is ano relief for your breakdown,
Your bwound is incurable.
All who hear the report about you
Will cclap their hands over you,
For on whom has not your evil passed continually?