| New King James Version | International Standard Version |
| 1Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. Its victim never departs. | 1Woe to this city, contaminated with shed blood, all full of lies and robberies— it is never without victims! |
| 2The noise of a whip And the noise of rattling wheels, Of galloping horses, Of clattering chariots! | 2The crack of whips and the clamor of wheels! The galloping horses and the bounding chariots! |
| 3Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear. There is a multitude of slain, A great number of bodies, Countless corpses— They stumble over the corpses— | 3The cavalry attacks— the flashing sword and the glittering spear! Many are the slain— so many casualties!— No end to bodies, and the soldiers trip over the corpses. |
| 4Because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot, The mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations through her harlotries, And families through her sorceries. | 4Innumerable are the harlotries of this well-favored whore, this mistress of witchcraft, who enslaves nations through her fornication and families through her sorcery. |
| 5“Behold, I am against you,” says the LORD of hosts; “I will lift your skirts over your face, I will show the nations your nakedness, And the kingdoms your shame. | 5"Look, I am against you," declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "so I will pull up your dress over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations, and your disgrace to the kingdoms. |
| 6I will cast abominable filth upon you, Make you vile, And make you a spectacle. | 6I will hurl abominable filth upon you, making you look foolish, and making an example of you. |
| 7It shall come to pass that all who look upon you Will flee from you, and say, ‘Nineveh is laid waste! Who will bemoan her?’ Where shall I seek comforters for you?” | 7It will be that everyone who looks at you will run away, saying, 'Nineveh has been violently overthrown! Who will mourn for her? Where will I find anyone to comfort you?'" |
| 8Are you better than No Amon That was situated by the River, That had the waters around her, Whose rampart was the sea, Whose wall was the sea? | 8"Are you any better than Thebes, which sits by the upper Nile, surrounded by water? The sea was her defense, the waters her wall of protection. |
| 9Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, And it was boundless; Put and Lubim were your helpers. | 9Sudan was her source of strength, along with Egypt— there were no limits. Put and the Libyans were her allies. |
| 10Yet she was carried away, She went into captivity; Her young children also were dashed to pieces At the head of every street; They cast lots for her honorable men, And all her great men were bound in chains. | 10But she, too, was exiled— she went into captivity! Her young children were dashed to pieces at every crossroad of their streets, and her famous citizens were sold by lottery, while all of her aristocrats were put in chains. |
| 11You also will be drunk; You will be hidden; You also will seek refuge from the enemy. | 11You will also become drunk. You will disappear, trying to hide from your enemies. |
| 12All your strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs: If they are shaken, They fall into the mouth of the eater. | 12All your defenses are like fig trees with ripe early fruit— when shaken, it falls right into the devourer's mouth. |
| 13Surely, your people in your midst are women! The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies; Fire shall devour the bars of your gates. | 13Look at your people— they are women! Your borders stand wide open to your enemies, while fire consumes the bars of your gates." |
| 14Draw your water for the siege! Fortify your strongholds! Go into the clay and tread the mortar! Make strong the brick kiln! | 14"Draw water, because a siege is coming! Strengthen your fortresses! Make the clay good and strong! Mix the mortar! Go get your brick molds! |
| 15There the fire will devour you, The sword will cut you off; It will eat you up like a locust. Make yourself many—like the locust! Make yourself many—like the swarming locusts! | 15In that place fire will consume you, the sword will cut you down, consuming you as locusts do. Multiply yourself like locusts, increase like swarming grasshoppers. |
| 16You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of heaven. The locust plunders and flies away. | 16You added to your inventory of businessmen— they number more than the stars of heaven. The creeping locust sheds its skin and flies away. |
| 17Your commanders are like swarming locusts, And your generals like great grasshoppers, Which camp in the hedges on a cold day; When the sun rises they flee away, And the place where they are is not known. | 17Your imperial guards are like the swarming grasshopper; your marshals are like hordes of grasshoppers, settling in the stone walls on a chilly day. The sun rises, and they flee away; no one knows where they went. |
| 18Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; Your nobles rest in the dust. Your people are scattered on the mountains, And no one gathers them. | 18Hey king of Assyria! Your shepherds are asleep and your nobles are lying down! Your people lie scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to gather them together. |
| 19Your injury has no healing, Your wound is severe. All who hear news of you Will clap their hands over you, For upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually? | 19There is no healing for your injury— your wound is fatal. Everyone who hears about you will applaud, because who hasn't escaped your endless evil?" |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. |
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