| King James Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; | 1Woe to the city of blood, totally deceitful, full of plunder, never without prey. |
| 2The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. | 2The crack of the whip and rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and jolting chariot! |
| 3The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: | 3Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end-- they stumble over their dead. |
| 4Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. | 4Because of the continual prostitution of the prostitute, the attractive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft, |
| 5Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. | 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. |
| 6And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock. | 6I will throw filth on you and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you. |
| 7And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee? | 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? |
| 8Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? | 8Are you better than Thebes that sat along the Nile with water surrounding her, whose rampart was the sea, the river her wall? |
| 9Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. | 9Cush and Egypt were her endless source of strength; Put and Libya were among her allies. |
| 10Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. | 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. |
| 11Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. | 11You also will become drunk; you will hide yourself. You also will seek refuge from the enemy. |
| 12All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. | 12All your fortresses are fig trees with figs that ripened first; when shaken, they fall-- right into the mouth of the eater! |
| 13Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars. | 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. |
| 14Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln. | 14Draw water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Step into the clay and tread the mortar; take hold of the brick-mold! |
| 15There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts. | 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! |
| 16Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away. | 16You have made your merchants more numerous than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips the land and flies away. |
| 17Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. | 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. |
| 18Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. | 18King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your officers sleep. Your people are scattered across the mountains with no one to gather them together. |
| 19There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? | 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? |
|
