Woe to Nineveh

1Woe to the bloody city,

all full of lies and plunder—

no end to the prey!

2The crack of the whip, and rumble of the wheel,

galloping horse and bounding chariot!

3Horsemen charging,

flashing sword and glittering spear,

hosts of slain,

heaps of corpses,

dead bodies without end—

they stumble over the bodies!

4And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute,

graceful and of deadly charms,

who betrays nations with her whorings,

and peoples with her charms.

5Behold, I am against you,

declares the LORD of hosts,

and will lift up your skirts over your face;

and I will make nations look at your nakedness

and kingdoms at your shame.

6I will throw filth at you

and treat you with contempt

and make you a spectacle.

7And all who look at you will shrink from you and say,

“Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her?”

Where shall I seek comforters for you?

8Are you better than Thebes3:8 Hebrew No-amon

that sat by the Nile,

with water round her,

her rampart a sea,

and water her wall?

9Cush was her strength;

Egypt too, and that without limit;

Put and the Libyans were her3:9 Hebrew your helpers.

10Yet she became an exile;

she went into captivity;

her infants were dashed in pieces

at the head of every street;

for her honoured men lots were cast,

and all her great men were bound in chains.

11You also will be drunken;

you will go into hiding;

you will seek a refuge from the enemy.

12All your fortresses are like fig trees

with first-ripe figs—

if shaken they fall

into the mouth of the eater.

13Behold, your troops

are women in your midst.

The gates of your land

are wide open to your enemies;

fire has devoured your bars.

14Draw water for the siege;

strengthen your forts;

go into the clay;

tread the mortar;

take hold of the brick mould!

15There will the fire devour you;

the sword will cut you off.

It will devour you like the locust.

Multiply yourselves like the locust;

multiply like the grasshopper!

16You increased your merchants

more than the stars of the heavens.

The locust spreads its wings and flies away.

17Your princes are like grasshoppers,

your scribes3:17 Or marshals like clouds of locusts

settling on the fences

in a day of cold—

when the sun rises, they fly away;

no one knows where they are.

18Your shepherds are asleep,

O king of Assyria;

your nobles slumber.

Your people are scattered on the mountains

with none to gather them.

19There is no easing your hurt;

your wound is grievous.

All who hear the news about you

clap their hands over you.

For upon whom has not come

your unceasing evil?