Study Desk

Woe to the city of blood,^(a) totally deceitful, full of plunder, never without prey.^(b)

The crack of the whip and rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and jolting chariot!^(c)

Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end^(d)— they stumble over their dead.

Because of the continual prostitution of the prostitute, the attractive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft,^(e)

I am against you.^(f) This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts. I will lift your skirts over your face and display your nakedness to nations, your shame to kingdoms.^(g)

I will throw filth on you and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you.

Then all who see you will recoil from you, saying, "Nineveh is devastated; who will show sympathy to her?" Where can I find anyone to comfort you?

Are you better than Thebes^[a](h) that sat along the Nile with water surrounding her, whose rampart was the sea, the river^[b][c] her wall?

Cush and Egypt were her endless source of strength; Put and Libya were among her^[d] allies.

Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her children were also dashed to pieces⁽ⁱ⁾ at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries,^(j) and all her nobles were bound in chains.

You^[e] also will become drunk; you will hide yourself.^[f] You also will seek refuge from the enemy.

All your fortresses are fig trees with figs that ripened first; when shaken, they fall— right into the mouth of the eater!

Look, your troops are like women among you; the gates of your land are wide open to your enemies. Fire will devour the bars of your gates.

Draw water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Step into the clay and tread the mortar; take hold of the brick-mold!

The fire will devour you there; the sword will cut you down. It will devour you like the young locust.^(k) Multiply yourselves like the young locust, multiply like the swarming locust!

You have made your merchants^(l) more numerous than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips^[g] the land and flies away.

Your court officials are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts, which settle on the walls on a cold day; when the sun rises, they take off, and no one knows where they are.

King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your officers sleep. Your people are scattered across the mountains with no one to gather them together.^(m)

There is no remedy for your injury; your wound is severe.⁽ⁿ⁾ All who hear the news about you will clap their hands because of you, for who has not experienced your constant cruelty?