¹Alas for the City of Blood;

All of it is full of deceit and violence.

The predation does not stop.

²There will be the sound of the whip,

And the sound of the rattling of a wheel,

And of a prancing horse

And a jolting chariot.

³The horseman raises both a glaring sword and a glittering spear,

And there are many casualties,

And an abundance of corpses,

And there is no end to dead bodies;

They stumble on their dead bodies.

⁴Because of the great extent of prostitution by the prostitute,

And because the mistress of sorceries is in good favour,

Who sells nations through her prostitution,

And families through her sorceries,

⁵Behold, I am against you,

Says the Lord of hosts,

And I will uncover your skirt in front of you,

And I will show nations your nakedness,

And kingdoms your shame.

⁶And I will cast abominations on you,

And I will despise you,

And I will make a spectacle of you.

⁷And it will come to pass

That all who see you

Will flee from you

And will say,

‘Nineveh has been laid waste;

Who will console her?’

From where can I seek comforters for you?

⁸Are you better than No-Amon,

Which is situated among the rivers,

With water round about it,

Whose fortification is the sea,

And whose wall consists of the sea?

⁹Ethiopia is your strength,

As is Egypt,

To which there is no end.

Put and Libya were among your allies.

¹⁰It will duly go into exile,

Into captivity,

And its children will be dashed to the ground at the head of all open spaces.

And they will cast lots for its honoured men,

And all its pre-eminent men will be bound in fetters.

¹¹You too will become drunk,

You will be hidden;

You too will seek a stronghold

Away from your enemy.

¹²All your fortifications will be like fig trees with firstfruits.

If they are shaken,

They fall to the mouth of the eater.

¹³Look, your people are women in your midst.

The gates of your land are completely open to your enemies;

Fire will consume your bars.

¹⁴Draw water for yourself ready for a siege,

Strengthen your fortifications,

Go to the mud,

And tread on the clay;

Renovate the brick-kiln.

¹⁵There, fire will consume you,

The sword will cut you off;

It will consume you like the devouring locust.

Abound like the devouring locust,

Abound like the swarming locust!

¹⁶You have increased your number of merchants

More than the stars of heaven.

The devouring locust will strip you

And fly off.

¹⁷Your princes are like swarming locusts,

And your generals are like teeming locusts,

Which settle in walled places,

On a cold day,

But when the sun rises,

They flee,

And the place where they are is not known.

¹⁸Your shepherds slumber,

O king of Assyria;

Your dignitaries are at rest.

Your people have been scattered to the mountains,

And there is no-one to gather them.

¹⁹There is no alleviation of your break-up;

The blow on you is grievous.

All who hear a report about you

Clap their hands over you,

For over whom has your wickedness not passed continually?”