1 ¶ Woe to the bloody city! So full of lying and theft; there is no end to the plunder;

2 The crack of a whip, and the noise of rattling wheels, prancing horses, and bouncing chariots.

3 Rearing riders, flashing swords, and glittering spears: and there are many dead, and a great number of bodies; and no end to the corpses; they stumble over the corpses:

4 Because of the continual prostitution of this attractive whore, the mistress of sorcery, who enslaves nations through her lust, and families through her witchcrafts.

5 Behold, I am against you, says the LORD of hosts; and I will lift your skirts up over your face, and I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.

6 I will throw filth on you, and make you vile, and will display you as something to stare at.

7 And it will come to pass, that all who look at you will recoil from you, and say, Nineveh is in ruins: who will weep over her? where can I find anyone to comfort you?

8 ¶ Can you do better than Thebes, that was situated by the Nile, with water around her, whose rampart was the river, and whose wall was the water?

9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was boundless; Put and the Libyans were there to help her.

10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: and her young children were dashed to pieces at every street corner: and they cast lots for her leading men, and all of her mighty men were bound in chains.

11 You too will stagger like a drunkard: you will hide yourselves, you will seek refuge because of the enemy.

12 All your strong holds will be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they are shaken, they will fall right into the mouth of the eater.

13 Look, the people in your midst are all women: the gates of your land are open wide to your enemies: and fire has consumed your bars.

14 Draw water for the siege, strengthen your fortifications: step into the claypits, and tread the clay, prepare the brickkiln.

15 There the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you off, it will consume you like locusts: even if you multiply like the locusts, and make yourselves as many as the locusts.

16 You have produced more merchants than the visible stars of heaven: yet the young locust strips the land, and flies away.

17 Your guards are like the locusts, and your scribes like a swarm of grasshoppers, which settle on the wall on a cold day, but hurry away when the sun comes out, and no one knows where they have gone.

18 Your rulers are asleep, O king of Assyria: your mighty ones rest in the dust: your people are scattered on the hills, and there is no one to gather them.

19 Your injury is fatal; your wound is grievous: all who hear the news concerning you will clap their hands over you: for who has not suffered from your constant cruelty?