3
1 Woe
to the bloody
city! It is
all full of
lies and robbery—no
end to the prey.
2 The
noise of the
whip, the noise
of the rattling
of wheels, prancing horses,
and bounding
chariots,
3 the
horseman charging,
and the flashing
sword, the
glittering spear,
and a multitude
of slain, and
a great heap of
corpses, and there
is no end
of the bodies.
They stumble on
their bodies
4 because
of the multitude
of the prostitution
of the alluring
prostitute, the
mistress of witchcraft,
who sells
nations through her prostitution,
and families through her witchcraft.
5 “Behold,
I am against
you,” says the
LORD of Armies, “and
I will lift
your skirts over
your face. I
will show the
nations your
nakedness, and the
kingdoms your
shame.
6 I will
throw abominable
filth on you
and make you
vile, and will
make you a
spectacle.
7 It
will happen that
all those who
look at you
will flee from
you, and say, ‘Nineveh
is laid waste! Who
will mourn for
her?’ Where will
I seek comforters
for you?”
8 Are
you better than
No-Amon,
who was situated
among the
rivers,
who had the
waters around her,
whose rampart was
the sea, and
her wall was
of the sea?
9 Cush
and Egypt were
her boundless strength.
Put and Libya
were her helpers.
10 Yet
was she carried
away. She went
into captivity.
Her young children
also were dashed
in pieces at
the head of
all the streets,
and they cast
lots for her
honorable men, and
all her great
men were bound
in chains.
11 You
also will be
drunken. You will
be hidden. You
also will seek
a stronghold because
of the enemy.
12 All
your fortresses
will be like
fig trees with
the first-ripe figs. If
they are shaken,
they fall into
the mouth of
the eater.
13 Behold,
your troops among
you are women. The
gates of your
land are set
wide open to
your enemies. The fire
has devoured your
bars.
14 Draw
water for the
siege. Strengthen
your fortresses. Go
into the clay,
and tread the
mortar. Make the
brick kiln strong.
15 There
the fire will devour
you. The sword
will cut you
off. It will devour
you like
the grasshopper. Multiply
like grasshoppers.
Multiply like the
locust.
16 You have
increased your
merchants more
than the stars
of the skies.
The grasshopper strips
and flees away.
17 Your
guards are like
the locusts, and
your officials like
the swarms of
locusts, which settle
on the walls
on a cold
day, but when
the sun appears,
they flee away,
and their place
is not known
where they are.
18 Your
shepherds slumber,
king of Assyria.
Your nobles lie
down. Your people
are scattered on
the mountains, and
there is no one
to gather them.
19 There
is no healing
your wound, for
your injury
is fatal. All who
hear the report
of you clap
their hands over
you, for who hasn’t
felt your endless cruelty?