The Lord Will Judge Nineveh
1How terrible it will be for Nineveh!
It is a city of murderers!
It is full of liars!
It is filled with stolen goods!
The killing never stops!
2Whips crack!
Wheels clack!
Horses charge!
Chariots rumble!
3Horsemen attack!
Swords flash!
Spears gleam!
Many people die.
Dead bodies pile up.
They can’t even be counted.
People trip over them.
4All of that was caused by the evil desires
of the prostitute Nineveh.
That woman who practiced evil magic
was very beautiful.
She used her sinful charms
to make slaves out of the nations.
She worshiped evil powers
in order to trap others.
5“Nineveh, I am against you,”
announces the Lord who rules over all.
“I will pull your skirts up over your face.
I will show the nations your naked body.
Kingdoms will make fun of your shame.
6I will throw garbage at you.
I will look down on you.
I will make an example out of you.
7All those who see you will run away from you.
They will say, ‘Nineveh is destroyed.
Who will mourn over it?’
Where can I find someone
to comfort your people?”
8Nineveh, are you better than Thebes
on the Nile River?
There was water all around that city.
The river helped to keep it safe.
The waters were like a wall around it.
9Cush and Egypt gave it all the strength it needed.
Put and Libya also helped it.
10But Thebes was captured anyway.
Its people were taken away as prisoners.
Its babies were smashed to pieces
at every street corner.
The Assyrian soldiers cast lots
for all its nobles.
They put them in chains
and made slaves out of them.
11People of Nineveh, you too will get drunk.
You will try to hide from your enemies.
You will look for a place of safety.
12All your forts are like fig trees
that have their first ripe fruit on them.
When the trees are shaken,
the figs fall into the mouths
of those who eat them.
13Look at your troops.
All of them are weak.
The gates of your forts
are wide open to your enemies.
Fire has destroyed the bars that lock your gates.
14Prepare for the attack by storing up water!
Make your walls as strong as you can!
Make some bricks out of clay!
Mix the mud to hold them together!
Use them to repair the walls!
15In spite of all your hard work,
fire will burn you up inside your city.
Your enemies will cut you down with their swords.
They will destroy you
just as a swarm of locusts eats up crops.
Multiply like grasshoppers!
Increase your numbers like locusts!
16You have more traders
than the number of stars in the sky.
But like locusts they strip the land.
Then they fly away.
17Your guards are like grasshoppers.
Your officials are like swarms of locusts.
They settle in the walls on a cold day.
But when the sun appears, they fly away.
And no one knows where they go.
18King of Assyria, your leaders are asleep.
Your nobles lie down to rest.
Your people are scattered on the mountains.
No one is left to gather them together.
19Nothing can heal your wounds.
You will die of them.
All those who hear the news about you clap their hands.
That’s because you have fallen from power.
Is there anyone who has not suffered
because of how badly you treated them?
1Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;3.1 bloody…: Heb. city of bloods 2The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. 3The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:3.3 the bright…: Heb. the flame of the sword, and the lightning of the spear 4Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. 5Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. 6And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock. 7And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
8Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?3.8 populous…: or, nourishing, etc: Heb. No Amon 9Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.3.9 thy helpers: Heb. in thy help 10Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. 11Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. 12All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. 13Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars. 14Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln. 15There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts. 16Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.3.16 spoileth: or, spreadeth himself 17Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. 18Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.3.18 nobles: or, valiant ones 19There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?3.19 healing: Heb. wrinkling
