## Woe to Nineveh 

###### 1
Woe to the city of bloodshed, completely full of deception _and_ pillage; _Her_ prey never departs. 

###### 2
The sound of the whip, And the sound of the rumbling of the wheel, Galloping horses, And bounding chariots! 

###### 3
Horsemen charging, And swords flaming, and spears flashing, Many slain, a mass of corpses, And there is no end to dead bodies-- They stumble over the dead bodies! 

###### 4
_All_ because of the many harlotries of the harlot, The charming one, the mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations by her harlotries And families by her sorceries. 

###### 5
"Behold, I am against you," declares Yahweh of hosts; "And I will uncover your skirts over your face And show to the nations your nakedness And to the kingdoms your disgrace. 

###### 6
I will throw detestable _filth_ on you And display you as a wicked fool And set you up as a spectacle. 

###### 7
And it will be that all who see you Will flee from you and say, 'Nineveh is devastated! Who will console her?' Where will I seek comforters for you?" 

###### 8
Are you better than No-amon, Which sits along the waters of the Nile, With water surrounding her, Whose rampart _was_ the sea, Whose wall _consisted_ of the sea? 

###### 9
Ethiopia was _her_ might, And Egypt too, without end. Put and Lubim were among her helpers. 

###### 10
Yet she became an exile; She went into captivity; Also her infants were dashed to pieces At the head of every street; They cast lots for her honorable men, And all her great men were bound with fetters. 

###### 11
You too will become drunk; You will be hidden. You too will search for a strong defense from the enemy. 

###### 12
All your fortifications are fig trees with ripe fruit-- When shaken, they fall into the eater's mouth. 

###### 13
Behold, your people are women in your midst! The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies; Fire consumes your gate bars. 

###### 14
Draw for yourself water for the siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Go into the clay and tread the mortar! Take hold of the brick mold! 

###### 15
There, fire will consume you; The sword will cut you down; It will consume you as the locust _does_. Multiply yourself like the creeping locust, Multiply yourself like the swarming locust. 

###### 16
You have increased your traders more than the stars of heaven-- The creeping locust strips and flies away. 

###### 17
Your guardsmen are like the swarming locust. Your marshals are like a locust-swarm Encamping in the stone walls on a cold day. The sun rises, and they flee, And the place where they are is not known. 

###### 18
Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria; Your mighty ones are lying down. Your people are scattered on the mountains, And there is no one to regather _them_. 

###### 19
There is no relief for your breakdown, Your wound is incurable. All who hear the report about you Will clap _their_ hands over you, For on whom has not your evil passed continually?