1Woe to the bloody city! It is full of lies and robbery! The prey does not leave. 2There is the noise of the whip and the sound of the rattling wheel; the sound of the dashing horse and the bounding chariot. 3The horseman is mounting. There is the flashing sword and the glittering spear! The multitudes of slain ones produce a great heap of corpses. There is no end of the bodies! They stumble upon their bodies. 4This is because of Nineveh's constant prostitution, this very charming mistress of evil magic. She used to sell nations by her prostitution and people by her evil magic. 5»I am against you, Nineveh,« declares Jehovah of Hosts. »I will lift up your dress over your face. I will show nations your naked body and kingdoms your disgrace. 6I will treat you with contempt and cover you with filth. People will stare at you in horror. 7»And it will come about that all who see you will go in flight from you and say, Nineveh is devastated: who will weep for her? Where will I get comforters for her? 8»Are you better than Noamon, which sits by the streams of the Nile with water surrounding her? The sea was her defense. The water was her wall. 9»Sudan and Egypt were her endless strength. Put and the Lybians were her help. 10»She went into captivity and was exiled. Her children were smashed to death at every street corner. Soldiers tossed dice for her important men, and all her best men were bound in chains. 11»Nineveh, you will stagger like a drunk. You will disappear. You will look for a fortress to escape from the enemy. 12»All your defenses will be like fig trees with the ripe figs. When shaken, the figs fall into the mouth of the eater. 13»Look! Your soldiers are like women! The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies. Fire will destroy the bars of your gates. 14»Draw pump water for the siege! Strengthen your defenses! Step into the clay pits and trample the clay! Grab hold of the brick mold! 15»You will be burned to death or killed in battle. You will be devoured like crops eaten by locusts. You grew in number like locusts! 16»You multiplied your merchants like the stars in the sky! But now they are gone, like locusts that spread their wings and fly away. 17»Your princes are as the locusts, and your officers as the swarms of grasshoppers. They encamp in the hedges on a cold day, but when the sun shines they flee away and no one knows where they go. 18»Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; your nobles are at rest. Your people are scattered upon the mountains, and there is none to gather them. 19»There is no relief for your pain. Your wound is grievous! All who hear the report about you applaud for your wickedness affected everyone.«