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Nineveh's Complete Ruin

^1 (C1)Woe (judgment is coming) to the city of blood guilty of murder and mayhem, completely full of lies and pillage;
Her prey never departs alive. ^(VR1)

² The ^(C1)noise of the cracking of the whip,
The noise of the rattling of the wheel,
Galloping horses
And rumbling and bounding chariots in the assault of Nineveh!

³ Horsemen charging,
Swords flashing, ^(C1)spears gleaming,
Many ^(C2)slain, a mass of corpses,
^(C3)No end of corpses—
The horsemen stumble over the corpses!

⁴ All because of the ^(C1)many acts of prostitution of Nineveh the prostitute,
The charming and well-favored one, the ^(C2)mistress of sorceries,
Who ^(C3)betrays nations by her acts of prostitution (idolatry)
And families by her sorceries.

⁵ "Behold, ^(C1)I am against you," declares the LORD of hosts,
"And I will ^(C2)lift up your skirts over your face,
And I will let the nations ^(C3)look at your nakedness O Nineveh
And the kingdoms at your disgrace.

⁶ "I will ^(C1)throw filth on you
And make you ^(C2)vile and treat you with contempt,
And set you up as a ^(C3)spectacle.

⁷ "And it will come about that all who see you
Will shrink back and run from you and say,
'Nineveh is completely ruined!
^(C1)Who will grieve for her?'
Where will I seek comforters for you?"

⁸ Are you better than ^(F1)(C1)Thebes,
Which was situated by the ^(C2)waters of the Nile,
With water surrounding her,
Whose defense was the sea (the Nile),
Whose wall consisted of the sea?

^9 (C1)Ethiopia was her strength,
And Egypt too, without limits.
^(F1)(C2)Put and ^(C3)Lubim were among her helpers.

¹⁰ Yet she ^(C1)became an exile;
She went into captivity.
Her ^(C2)young children were dashed to pieces
^(C3)At the head of every street;
They ^(C4)cast lots for her honorable men,
And all her great men were bound with chains.

¹¹ You too Nineveh will become ^(C1)drunk with the cup of God's wrath;
You will be ^(C2)hidden.
You too Nineveh will search in vain for a refuge from the enemy.

¹² All your fortresses are nothing but ^(C1)fig trees with ^(C2)ripe figs—
When shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater.

¹³ Behold, your people are as weak and helpless as ^(C1)women in your midst!
The gates of your land are ^(C2)opened wide to your enemies;
Fire consumes the bars across your gates.

^14 (C1)Draw water for a long, continued siege!
^(C2)Strengthen your fortresses!
Go down to the clay pits, trample the mortar!
Prepare the brick kiln to burn bricks for the rampart!

¹⁵ But there in the very midst of these preparations the ^(C1)fire will devour you;
The sword will cut you down;
It will ^(C2)devour you as the locust does.
Multiply yourself like the creeping locusts;
Multiply yourself like the swarming locusts.

¹⁶ You have increased your ^(C1)traders more than the visible stars of heaven—
The creeping locust strips and destroys and then flies away.

¹⁷ Your ^(C1)guardsmen are like the swarming locusts.
Your ^(C2)marshals are like the hordes of grasshoppers
Settling in the stone walls on a cold day.
When the sun rises, they fly away,
And no one knows the place where they are.

¹⁸ Your shepherds are ^(C1)asleep, O ^(C2)king of Assyria;
Your ^(C3)nobles are lying down in death.
Your people are ^(C4)scattered on the mountains
And there is no one to gather them.

¹⁹ There is ^(C1)no relief and healing for your hurt;
Your ^(C2)wound is incurable.
All who hear the news about you
^(C3)Clap their hands over what has happened to you.
For on whom has your unceasing evil not come continually?