1 W oe to the bloody city! It is full of lies and booty and no end to the plunder!

2 T he cracking of the whip, the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses and chariots rumbling and bounding,

3 H orsemen mounting and charging, the flashing sword, the gleaming spear, a multitude of slain and a great number of corpses, no end of corpses! stumble over the corpses!

4 A ll because of the multitude of the harlotries, the well-favored harlot, the mistress of deadly charms who betrays and sells nations through her whoredoms and peoples through her enchantments.

5 B ehold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will lift up your skirts over your face, and I will let the nations look on your nakedness and the kingdoms on your shame.

6 I will cast abominable things at you and make you filthy, treat you with contempt, and make you a gazingstock.

7 A nd all who look on you will shrink and flee from you and say, Nineveh is laid waste; who will pity and bemoan her? Where shall I seek comforters for you?

8 A re you better than No-amon, that dwelt by the rivers or canals, that had the waters round about her, whose rampart was a sea and water her wall?

9 E thiopia and Egypt were her strength, and that without limit. Put and the Libyans were her helpers.

10 Y et she was carried away; she went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed in pieces at all the street corners; lots were cast for her nobles, and all her great men were bound with chains.

11 Y ou will be drunk; you will be dazed. You will seek and require a refuge because of the enemy.

12 A ll your fortresses are fig trees with early figs; if they are shaken they will fall into the mouth of the eater.

13 B ehold, your troops in the midst of you are women; the gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies; fire consumes your bars.

14 D raw for yourself the water for a siege, make strong your fortresses! Go down into the clay pits and trample the mortar; make ready the brickkiln!

15 t here will the fire devour you; the sword will cut you off; it will destroy you as the locusts. Multiply yourselves like the licking locusts; make yourselves many like the swarming locusts!

16 Y ou increased your merchants more than the stars of the heavens. The swarming locust spreads itself and destroys, and then flies away.

17 Y our princes are like the grasshoppers and your marshals like the swarms of locusts which encamp in the hedges on a cold day—but when the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows where they are.

18 Y our shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles are lying still. Your people are scattered on the mountains and there is no one to gather them.

19 T here is no healing of your hurt; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you. For upon whom has not your evil come continually?