Online Bible

^aWoe (judgment is coming) to the city of blood guilty of murder and mayhem, completely full of lies and pillage;Her prey never departs alive. Ezek 24:6, 9, 10; Hab 2:122 The ^anoise of the cracking of the whip,The noise of the rattling of the wheel,Galloping horsesAnd rumbling and bounding chariots in the assault of Nineveh!3 Horsemen charging,Swords flashing, ^aspears gleaming,Many ^bslain, a mass of corpses,^cNo end of corpses—The horsemen stumble over the corpses!4 All because of the ^amany acts of prostitution of Nineveh the prostitute,The charming and well-favored one, the ^bmistress of sorceries,Who ^cbetrays nations by her acts of prostitution (idolatry)And families by her sorceries.5 “Behold, ^aI am against you,” declares the LORD of hosts,“And I will ^blift up your skirts over your face,And I will let the nations ^clook at your nakedness O NinevehAnd the kingdoms at your disgrace.6 “I will ^athrow filth on youAnd make you ^bvile and treat you with contempt,And set you up as a ^cspectacle.7 “And it will come about that all who see youWill shrink back and run from you and say,‘Nineveh is completely ruined!^aWho will grieve for her?’Where will I seek comforters for you?”

8 Are you better than ¹^aThebes,Which was situated by the ^bwaters of the Nile,With water surrounding her,Whose defense was the sea (the Nile) ,Whose wall consisted of the sea?9 ^aEthiopia was her strength,And Egypt too, without limits.¹^bPut and ^cLubim were among her helpers.10 Yet she ^abecame an exile;She went into captivity.Her ^byoung children were dashed to pieces^cAt the head of every street;They ^dcast lots for her honorable men,And all her great men were bound with chains.11 You too Nineveh will become ^adrunk with the cup of God’s wrath;You will be ^bhidden.You too Nineveh will search in vain for a refuge from the enemy.12 All your fortresses are nothing but ^afig trees with ^bripe figs—When shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater.13 Behold, your people are as weak and helpless as ^awomen in your midst!The gates of your land are ^bopened wide to your enemies;Fire consumes the bars across your gates.14 ^aDraw water for a long, continued siege!^bStrengthen your fortresses!Go down to the clay pits, trample the mortar!Prepare the brick kiln to burn bricks for the rampart!15 But there in the very midst of these preparations the ^afire will devour you;The sword will cut you down;It will ^bdevour you as the locust does.

Multiply yourself like the creeping locusts;Multiply yourself like the swarming locusts.16 You have increased your ^atraders more than the visible stars of heaven—The creeping locust strips and destroys and then flies away.17 Your ^aguardsmen are like the swarming locusts.Your ^bmarshals are like the hordes of grasshoppersSettling in the stone walls on a cold day.When the sun rises, they fly away,And no one knows the place where they are.18 Your shepherds are ^aasleep, O ^bking of Assyria;Your ^cnobles are lying down in death.Your people are ^dscattered on the mountainsAnd there is no one to gather them.19 There is ^ano relief and healing for your hurt;Your ^bwound is incurable.All who hear the news about you^cClap their hands over what has happened to you.For on whom has your unceasing evil not come continually?