| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New International Version |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims! |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2The crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, galloping horses and jolting chariots! |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3Charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses-- |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5"I am against you," declares the LORD Almighty. "I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6I will pelt you with filth, I will treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7All who see you will flee from you and say, 'Nineveh is in ruins--who will mourn for her?' Where can I find anyone to comfort you?" |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8Are you better than Thebes, situated on the Nile, with water around her? The river was her defense, the waters her wall. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were among her allies. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10Yet she was taken captive and went into exile. Her infants were dashed to pieces at every street corner. Lots were cast for her nobles, and all her great men were put in chains. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11You too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12All your fortresses are like fig trees with their first ripe fruit; when they are shaken, the figs fall into the mouth of the eater. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13Look at your troops-- they are all weaklings. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has consumed the bars of your gates. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14Draw water for the siege, strengthen your defenses! Work the clay, tread the mortar, repair the brickwork! |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15There the fire will consume you; the sword will cut you down-- they will devour you like a swarm of locusts. Multiply like grasshoppers, multiply like locusts! |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16You have increased the number of your merchants till they are more numerous than the stars in the sky, but like locusts they strip the land and then fly away. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17Your guards are like locusts, your officials like swarms of locusts that settle in the walls on a cold day-- but when the sun appears they fly away, and no one knows where. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your nobles lie down to rest. Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19Nothing can heal you; your wound is fatal. All who hear the news about you clap their hands at your fall, for who has not felt your endless cruelty? |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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