CHAPTER 3

                 ¹Woe, city of bloodshed,

                     all of it deceit.

                 Filled with plunder,

                     prey never gone from it.

                 ²The sound of the whip

                     and the sound of the wheel’s clatter,

                 galloping horse

                     and chariot bounding.

                 ³Rearing charger

                     and blade of the sword

                         and flash of the spear,

                 and many the slain

                     and the press of the corpses—

                 there is no end to the bodies,

                     they stumble on the bodies.

                 ⁴Because of all the whoring of the whore,

                     the beguiling sorceress,

                 who ensnares nations with her whoring

                     and clans with her spells,

                 ⁵here am I against you, said the LORD of Armies—

                     I will lay bare your skirts over your face

                 and show nations your nakedness

                     and kingdoms your shame.

                 ⁶And I will fling foul things upon you

                     and make you vile and make a spectacle of you.

                 ⁷And it shall be that all who see you

                     shall shrink from you and say:

                 “Nineveh is ravaged!

                     Who will grieve for her,

                 and where can I seek

                     comforters for her?”

                 ⁸Are you better than No-Amon

                     that sits by the Nile,

                         water all around her,

                 that has a sea as a rampart,

                     water is her wall?

                 ⁹Nubia the vast

                     and Egypt without end,

                 Put and the Lybians

                     were her allies.

                 ¹⁰Yet she, too, went captive into exile.

                     Her babes, too, were smashed

                         at every street corner,

                 and for her notables they cast lots

                     and all her great men were shackled in chains.

                 ¹¹You, too, shall be drunk,

                     you shall be overcome.

                         You, too, shall seek a stronghold against the enemy.

                 ¹²All your fortresses are figs,

                     ripe fruit.

                 If they are shaken, they fall

                     into the mouth of the eater.

                 ¹³Look, your people are women

                     in your midst for your enemies.

                 The gates of your land are wide open.

                     Fire has consumed their bolts.

                 ¹⁴Siege water draw for yourself,

                     reinforce your fortresses.

                 Come into the mud

                     and trample the clay,

                         grasp the brickwork.

                 ¹⁵There shall fire consume you,

                     the sword shall cut you off,

                         shall consume you like locusts.

                 Be as many as locusts,

                     be as many as grasshoppers.

                 ¹⁶You had merchants more numerous

                     than the stars of the heavens—

                         locusts spread out and flew off.

                 ¹⁷Your commanders were like grasshoppers

                     and your officers like swarms of locusts

                 that settle on stone fences

                     on a cold day.

                 When the sun rises, they go off,

                     and where their place is no one knows.

                 ¹⁸Your shepherds have slumbered, Assyrian king,

                     your staunch men are asleep,

                         your people scattered over the mountains, none gathering them.

                 ¹⁹There is no healing for your disaster,

                     your wound is grievous.

                 All who hear the report of you

                     clap hands over you.

                 For over whom has not passed

                     your constant evil?