Chapter 3

Nineveh’s Complete Ruin

1 aWoe to the bloody city, completely full of lies and pillage;

Her prey never departs.

2 The anoise of the whip,

The noise of the rattling of the wheel,

Galloping horses

And 1bounding chariots!

3 Horsemen charging,

Swords flashing, aspears gleaming,

bMany slain, a mass of corpses,

And 1ccountless dead bodies—

They stumble over 2the 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 the Lord of hosts;

“And I will 1blift up your skirts over your face,

And cshow to the nations your nakedness

And to the kingdoms your disgrace.

6 “I will athrow 1filth on you

And bmake you vile,

And set you up as a cspectacle.

7 “And it will come about that all who see you

Will 1shrink from you and say,

‘Nineveh is devastated!

aWho will grieve for her?’

Where will I seek comforters for you?”

8 Are you better than 1aNo-amon,

Which was situated by the bwaters of the Nile,

With water surrounding her,

Whose rampart was 2the sea,

Whose wall consisted of 2the sea?

9 aEthiopia was her might,

And Egypt too, without limits.

bPut and cLubim were among 1her helpers.

10 Yet she abecame an exile,

She went into captivity;

Also her bsmall children 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 refuge from the enemy.

12 All your fortifications are afig trees with 1bripe 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 1strips and flies away.

17 Your 1aguardsmen are like the swarming locust.

Your bmarshals are like hordes of grasshoppers

Settling 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 cnobles 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 1about you

Will cclap their hands over you,

For on whom has not your evil passed continually?