| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder— no end to the prey! | 1What sorrow awaits Nineveh, the city of murder and lies! She is crammed with wealth and is never without victims. |
| 2The crack of the whip, and rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot! | 2Hear the crack of whips, the rumble of wheels! Horses’ hooves pound, and chariots clatter wildly. |
| 3Horsemen charging, flashing sword and glittering spear, hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end— they stumble over the bodies! | 3See the flashing swords and glittering spears as the charioteers charge past! There are countless casualties, heaps of bodies— so many bodies that people stumble over them. |
| 4And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms, who betrays nations with her whorings, and peoples with her charms. | 4All this because Nineveh, the beautiful and faithless city, mistress of deadly charms, enticed the nations with her beauty. She taught them all her magic, enchanting people everywhere. |
| 5Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame. | 5“I am your enemy!” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “And now I will lift your skirts and show all the earth your nakedness and shame. |
| 6I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle. | 6I will cover you with filth and show the world how vile you really are. |
| 7And all who look at you will shrink from you and say, “Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her?” Where shall I seek comforters for you? | 7All who see you will shrink back and say, ‘Nineveh lies in ruins. Where are the mourners?’ Does anyone regret your destruction?” |
| 8Are you better than Thebes that sat by the Nile, with water around her, her rampart a sea, and water her wall? | 8Are you any better than the city of Thebes, situated on the Nile River, surrounded by water? She was protected by the river on all sides, walled in by water. |
| 9Cush was her strength; Egypt too, and that without limit; Put and the Libyans were her helpers. | 9Ethiopia and the land of Egypt gave unlimited assistance. The nations of Put and Libya were among her allies. |
| 10Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity; her infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street; for her honored men lots were cast, and all her great men were bound in chains. | 10Yet Thebes fell, and her people were led away as captives. Her babies were dashed to death against the stones of the streets. Soldiers threw dice to get Egyptian officers as servants. All their leaders were bound in chains. |
| 11You also will be drunken; you will go into hiding; you will seek a refuge from the enemy. | 11And you, Nineveh, will also stagger like a drunkard. You will hide for fear of the attacking enemy. |
| 12All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs— if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater. | 12All your fortresses will fall. They will be devoured like the ripe figs that fall into the mouths of those who shake the trees. |
| 13Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars. | 13Your troops will be as weak and helpless as women. The gates of your land will be opened wide to the enemy and set on fire and burned. |
| 14Draw water for the siege; strengthen your forts; go into the clay; tread the mortar; take hold of the brick mold! | 14Get ready for the siege! Store up water! Strengthen the defenses! Go into the pits to trample clay, and pack it into molds, making bricks to repair the walls. |
| 15There will the fire devour you; the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust; multiply like the grasshopper! | 15But the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you down. The enemy will consume you like locusts, devouring everything they see. There will be no escape, even if you multiply like swarming locusts. |
| 16You increased your merchants more than the stars of the heavens. The locust spreads its wings and flies away. | 16Your merchants have multiplied until they outnumber the stars. But like a swarm of locusts, they strip the land and fly away. |
| 17Your princes are like grasshoppers, your scribes like clouds of locusts settling on the fences in a day of cold— when the sun rises, they fly away; no one knows where they are. | 17Your guards and officials are also like swarming locusts that crowd together in the hedges on a cold day. But like locusts that fly away when the sun comes up, all of them will fly away and disappear. |
| 18Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them. | 18Your shepherds are asleep, O Assyrian king; your princes lie dead in the dust. Your people are scattered across the mountains with no one to gather them together. |
| 19There is no easing your hurt; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you. For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil? | 19There is no healing for your wound; your injury is fatal. All who hear of your destruction will clap their hands for joy. Where can anyone be found who has not suffered from your continual cruelty? |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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