1 W oe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies violence; the prey departeth not.

2 T he crack of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the bounding chariots!

3 T he horseman springing up, and the glitter of the sword, and the flash of the spear, and a multitude of slain, and a mass of carcases, and no end of corpses: they stumble over their corpses.

4 — Because of the multitude of the fornications of the well-favoured harlot, mistress of sorceries, that selleth nations through her fornications, and families through her sorceries,

5 b ehold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts; and I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.

6 A nd I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing stock.

7 A nd it shall come to pass, all they that see thee shall flee from thee, and shall say, Nineveh is laid waste! Who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?

8 A rt thou better than No-Amon, that was situate among the rivers, the waters round about her, whose rampart was the sea, of the sea was her wall?

9 E thiopia was her strength, and Egypt, and it was infinite; Phut and the Libyans were her helpers.

10 S he too was carried away, she went into captivity: her infants 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 with chains.

11 T hou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid; thou also shalt seek a refuge from the enemy.

12 A ll thy strongholds are fig-trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they even fall into the mouth of the eater.

13 B ehold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies; the fire devoureth thy bars.

14 D raw thee water for the siege, strengthen thy fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick-kiln.

15 T here shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee like the cankerworm. Make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locust.

16 T hou hast multiplied thy merchants more than the stars of the heavens; the cankerworm spreadeth himself out and flieth away.

17 T hy chosen men are as the locusts, and thy captains as swarms of grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day: when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.

18 T hy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy nobles lie still; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.

19 T here is no healing of thy breach; thy wound is grievous; all that hear the report of thee clap the hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?