| New International Version | NET Bible |
| 1Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims! | 1Woe to the city guilty of bloodshed! She is full of lies; she is filled with plunder; she has hoarded her spoil! |
| 2The crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, galloping horses and jolting chariots! | 2The chariot drivers will crack their whips; the chariot wheels will shake the ground; the chariot horses will gallop; the war chariots will bolt forward! |
| 3Charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses-- | 3The charioteers will charge ahead; their swords will flash and their spears will glimmer! There will be many people slain; there will be piles of the dead, and countless casualties--so many that people will stumble over the corpses. |
| 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. | 4"Because you have acted like a wanton prostitute--a seductive mistress who practices sorcery, who enslaves nations by her harlotry, and entices peoples by her sorcery-- |
| 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. | 5I am against you," declares the LORD who commands armies. "I will strip off your clothes! I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms; |
| 6I will pelt you with filth, I will treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle. | 6I will pelt you with filth; I will treat you with contempt; I will make you a public spectacle. |
| 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?" | 7Everyone who sees you will turn away from you in disgust; they will say, 'Nineveh has been devastated! Who will lament for her?' There will be no one to comfort you!" |
| 8Are you better than Thebes, situated on the Nile, with water around her? The river was her defense, the waters her wall. | 8You are no more secure than Thebes--she was located on the banks of the Nile; the waters surrounded her, her rampart was the sea, the water was her wall. |
| 9Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were among her allies. | 9Cush and Egypt had limitless strength; Put and the Libyans were among her allies. |
| 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. | 10Yet she went into captivity as an exile; even her infants were smashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her nobility; all her dignitaries were bound with chains. |
| 11You too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy. | 11You too will act like drunkards; you will go into hiding; you too will seek refuge from the enemy. |
| 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. | 12All your fortifications will be like fig trees with first-ripe fruit: If they are shaken, their figs will fall into the mouth of the eater! |
| 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. | 13Your warriors will be like women in your midst; the gates of your land will be wide open to your enemies; fire will consume the bars of your gates. |
| 14Draw water for the siege, strengthen your defenses! Work the clay, tread the mortar, repair the brickwork! | 14Draw yourselves water for a siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Trample the mud and tread the clay! Make mud bricks to strengthen your walls! |
| 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! | 15There the fire will consume you; the sword will cut you down; it will devour you like the young locust would. The Assyrian Defenders Will Flee Multiply yourself like the young locust; multiply yourself like the flying locust! |
| 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. | 16Increase your merchants more than the stars of heaven! They are like the young locust which sheds its skin and flies away. |
| 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. | 17Your courtiers are like locusts, your officials are like a swarm of locusts! They encamp in the walls on a cold day, yet when the sun rises, they fly away; and no one knows where they are. |
| 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. | 18Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria! Your officers are slumbering! Your people are scattered like sheep on the mountains and there is no one to regather them! |
| 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? | 19Your destruction is like an incurable wound; your demise is like a fatal injury! All who hear what has happened to you will clap their hands for joy, for no one ever escaped your endless cruelty! |
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