The Overthrow of Nineveh

1One who scatters advances

against you, O Nineveh.

Guard the fortress!

Watch the road!

Brace yourselves!a

Summon all your strength!

2For the LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob

like the splendor of Israel,

though destroyers have laid them waste

and ruined the branches of their vine.

3The shields of his mighty men are red;

the valiant warriors are dressed in scarlet.

The fittings of the chariots flash like fire

on the day they are prepared,

and the spears of cypress

have been brandished.b

4The chariots dash through the streets;

they rush around the plazas,

appearing like torches,

darting about like lightning.

5He summons his nobles;

they stumble as they advance.

They race to its wall;

the protective shield is set in place.

6The river gates are thrown open

and the palace collapses.

7It is decreed that the city be exiled

and carried away;

her maidservants moan like doves,

and beat upon their breasts.

8Nineveh has been like a pool of water

throughout her days,

but now it is draining away.

“Stop! Stop!” they cry,

but no one turns back.

9“Plunder the silver!

Plunder the gold!”

There is no end to the treasure,

an abundance of every precious thing.

10She is emptied!

Yes, she is desolate and laid waste!

Hearts melt, knees knock,

bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!

11Where is the lions’ lair

or the feeding ground of the young lions,

where the lion and lioness prowled with their cubs,

with nothing to frighten them away?

12The lion mauled enough for its cubs

and strangled prey for the lioness.

It filled its dens with the kill,

and its lairs with mauled prey.

13“Behold, I am against you,”

declares the LORD of Hosts.

“I will send your chariots up in smoke,

and the sword will devour your young lions.

I will cut off your prey from the earth,

and the voices of your messengers

will no longer be heard.”

Judgment on Nineveh

1Woe to the city of blood,

full of lies,

full of plunder,

never without prey.

2The crack of the whip,

the rumble of the wheel,

galloping horse

and bounding chariot!

3Charging horseman,

flashing sword,

shining spear;

heaps of slain,

mounds of corpses,

dead bodies without end—

they stumble over their dead—

4because of the many harlotries of the harlot,

the seductive mistress of sorcery,

who betrays nations by her prostitution

and clans by her witchcraft.

5“Behold, I am against you,”

declares the LORD of Hosts.

“I will lift your skirts over your face.

I will show your nakedness to the nations

and your shame to the kingdoms.

6I will pelt you with filth

and treat you with contempt;

I will make a spectacle of you.

7Then all who see you

will recoil from you and say,

‘Nineveh is devastated;

who will grieve for her?’

Where can I find

comforters for you?”

8Are you better than Thebes,a

stationed by the Nile with water around her,

whose rampart was the sea,

whose wall was the water?

9Cushb and Egypt were her boundless strength;

Put and Libya were her allies.

10Yet she became an exile;

she went into captivity.

Her infants were dashed to pieces

at the head of every street.

They cast lots for her dignitaries,

and all her nobles were bound in chains.

11You too will become drunk;

you will go into hiding

and seek refuge from the enemy.

12All your fortresses are fig trees

with the first ripe figs;

when shaken, they fall

into the mouth of the eater!

13Look at your troops—

they are like your women!

The gates of your land

are wide open to your enemies;

fire consumes their bars.

14Draw your water for the siege;

strengthen your fortresses.

Work the clay and tread the mortar;

repair the brick kiln!

15There the fire will devour you;

the sword will cut you down

and consume you like a young locust.

Make yourself many like the young locust;

make yourself many like the swarming locust!

16You have multiplied your merchants

more than the stars of the sky.

The young locust strips the land

and flies away.

17Your guardsc are like the swarming locust,

and your scribesd like clouds of locusts

that settle on the walls on a cold day.

When the sun rises, they fly away,

and no one knows where.

18O king of Assyria, your shepherds slumber;

your officers sleep.

Your people are scattered on the mountains

with no one to gather them.

19There is no healing for your injury;

your wound is severe.

All who hear the news of you

applaud your downfall,

for who has not experienced

your constant cruelty?