| Holman Christian Standard Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Woe to the city of blood, totally deceitful, full of plunder, never without 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 jolting chariot! | 2Hear the crack of whips, the rumble of wheels! Horses’ hooves pound, and chariots clatter wildly. |
| 3Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end-- they stumble over their dead. | 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. |
| 4Because of the continual prostitution of the prostitute, the attractive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft, | 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. |
| 5I am against you. This is the declaration of the LORD of Hosts. I will lift your skirts over your face and display your nakedness to nations, your shame to kingdoms. | 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 on you and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you. | 6I will cover you with filth and show the world how vile you really are. |
| 7Then all who see you will recoil from you, saying," Nineveh is devastated; who will show sympathy to her?" Where can I find anyone to comfort 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 along the Nile with water surrounding her, whose rampart was the sea, the river 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 and Egypt were her endless source of strength; Put and Libya were among her allies. | 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 children were also dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles 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 become drunk; you will hide yourself. You also will seek 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 fig trees with figs that ripened first; when shaken, they fall-- right 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. |
| 13Look, your troops are like women among you; the gates of your land are wide open to your enemies. Fire will devour the bars of your gates. | 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 fortresses. Step into the clay and 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. |
| 15The fire will devour you there; the sword will cut you down. It will devour you like the young locust. Multiply yourselves like the young locust, multiply like the swarming locust! | 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 have made your merchants more numerous than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips the land 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 court officials are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts, which settle on the walls on a cold day; when the sun rises, they take off, and 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. |
| 18King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your officers sleep. Your people are scattered across the mountains with no one to gather them together. | 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 remedy for your injury; your wound is severe. All who hear the news about you will clap their hands because of you, for who has not experienced your constant cruelty? | 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? |
| Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | 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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