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Woe to Nineveh

^1 (C1)Woe to the city of ^(F1)bloodshed, completely full of deception and pillage;
Her prey never departs.

² The ^(C1)sound of the whip,
And the sound of the rumbling of the wheel,
Galloping horses,
And ^(F1)bounding chariots!

³ Horsemen charging,
And swords flaming, and ^(C1)spears flashing,
^(C2)Many slain, a mass of corpses,
And ^(C3)there is no end to dead bodies—
They stumble over ^(F1)the dead bodies!

⁴ All because of the ^(C1)many harlotries of the harlot,
The charming one, the ^(C2)mistress of sorceries,
Who ^(C3)sells nations by her harlotries
And families by her sorceries.

⁵ "Behold, ^(C1)I am against you," declares Yahweh of hosts;
"And I will ^(C2)uncover your skirts over your face
And ^(C3)show to the nations your nakedness
And to the kingdoms your disgrace.

⁶ "I will ^(C1)throw detestable filth on you
And ^(C2)display you as a wicked fool
And set you up as a ^(C3)spectacle.

⁷ "And it will be that all who see you
Will flee from you and say,
'Nineveh is devastated!
^(C1)Who will console her?'
Where will I seek comforters for you?"

⁸ Are you better than ^(F1)(C1)No-amon,
Which sits along the ^(C2)waters of the Nile,
With water surrounding her,
Whose rampart was ^(F2)the sea,
Whose wall consisted of ^(F2)the sea?

^9 (F1)(C1)Ethiopia was her might,
And Egypt too, without end.
^(C2)Put and ^(C3)Lubim were among ^(F2)her helpers.

¹⁰ Yet she ^(C1)became an exile;
She went into captivity;
Also her ^(C2)infants 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 fetters.

¹¹ You too will become ^(C1)drunk;
You will be ^(C2)hidden.
You too will search for a strong defense from the enemy.

¹² All your fortifications are ^(C1)fig trees with ^(F1)(C2)ripe fruit—
When shaken, they fall into the eater's mouth.

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

^14 (C1)Draw for yourself water for the siege!
^(C2)Strengthen your fortifications!
Go into the clay and tread the mortar!
^(F1)Take hold of the brick mold!

¹⁵ There, ^(C1)fire will consume you;
The sword will cut you down;
It will ^(C2)consume you as the locust does.

Multiply yourself like the creeping locust,
Multiply yourself like the swarming locust.

¹⁶ You have increased your ^(C1)traders more than the stars of heaven—
The creeping locust ^(F1)strips and flies away.

¹⁷ Your ^(F1)(C1)guardsmen are like the swarming locust.
Your ^(C2)marshals are like a locust-swarm
Encamping 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 ^(C1)sleeping, O ^(C2)king of Assyria;
Your ^(C3)mighty ones are ^(F1)lying down.
Your people are ^(C4)scattered on the mountains,
And there is no one to regather them.

¹⁹ There is ^(C1)no relief for your breakdown,
Your ^(C2)wound is incurable.
All who hear the report about you
Will ^(C3)clap their hands over you,
For on whom has not your evil passed continually?