1Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery; never without victims! 2There is the constant crack of whips, the clatter of the rattling chariot wheels, and of the prancing horses of bounding chariots. 3The charging horsemen raise their bright swords and glittering spears; and there are many bodies of the slain - a great number of carcasses - there is no end of their corpses; people stumble over them, 4All because Nineveh, the beautiful and faithless city, mistress of deadly charms, enticed the nations with her beauty. She taught them all her magic, enchanting people everywhere. 5“I am against you”, declares the LORD Almighty, “and I will lift your skirts over your face, and I will expose your nakedness to all the nations and kingdoms, to your shame. 6And I will throw abominable filth upon you, and make you a vile and contemptible spectacle. 7And all that see you shall shrink back from you, and say, ‘Nineveh is in ruins, and who will grieve for her’. Where will you find anyone to sympathize with or comfort you?”

8Are you better than populous No-amon (Thebes) that was situated among the rivers, surrounded by much water, whose defensive walls were the sea? 9Ethiopia (Cush) and Egypt were her strength, and it seemed to be unlimited; Put and Lubim (Libya) were her allies. 10Yet she was conquered and went into captivity; her young children also were dashed in pieces at every street corner; and they cast lots for her nobles; and all her great men were bound in chains. 11And you, too, Nineveh, shall also become drunk; you shall go into hiding, you shall also seek rescue from your enemy. 12All your strongholds shall be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs; if they are shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of those who desire to devour them. 13Look at your troops – they are weaklings; the gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; the fire has consumed the bars of your gates.

14Draw and store water for the siege, fortify your defenses! Work the clay, and tread the mortar, repair, and make strong the brickwork. 15There shall the fire devour you; the sword shall cut you down, it shall devour you like locusts. Multiply yourselves into many like the cankerworm; even if you multiply yourselves like the locusts, they will devour you. 16You have increased the number of your merchants above the stars of heaven; but like the cankerworms, they strip the land, then fly away. 17Your guards and officials are like the locusts, and your officers like the great grasshoppers, that settle in the walls on a cold day, but when the sun rises, they fly away, and disappear.

18Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles lie down to rest. Your people are scattered upon the mountains, with no one to lead them. 19There is no healing of your fatal wound. All that hear the report of you shall clap the hands over your fall; for who has not felt your endless cruelty?