5
"Look! I am against you!" {declares}Yahweh. "I will strip up your skirts over your face; I will let nations look [at] your nakedness and your shame.
6
"I will throw filth upon you, I will treat you with contempt, I will make you a spectacle.
7
"And it will be that everyone who sees you will flee from you, And {they} will say, 'Nineveh is destroyed!' Who will mourn for her? From whence shall I seek comforters for you?"
Nineveh Will Suffer the Same Fate She Inflicted on Thebes
8 Are you better than Thebes? She who sits at the Nile, surrounded by her waters, her rampart [was the] sea and water [was] her wall.
9
Cush [was] her strength, Egypt without end; Put and Libya were among {your allies}.
10
Yet she went into captivity as an exile; her children were dashed to pieces at the head of [the] streets; they cast lots for all of her nobles; all of her dignitaries were bound with chains.
11
You also will behave like a drunkard; You also will hide yourself; You also will seek refuge from [the] enemy.
Nineveh’s Defenses Will Fail
12 All of your fortifications [are like] fig trees with [ripe] firstfruits-- if they are shaken, they will fall into the mouth of the eater.
13
Look! Your troops [are like] women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire will consume the bars [of your gates].
14
Draw water for a siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Go to the mud [pit]! Trample the clay! Grasp the brick mold!
15
There fire will consume you; the sword will cut you off. It will consume you like the locust.
Nineveh’s Defenders Will Flee
16 You have increased your merchants more than the stars of heaven; [like] the locust they will shed [their skin] and fly away.
17
Your officials [are] like locusts; your commanders [are] like a swarm of locusts. They encamp on the walls on a cold day; when the sun rises, they fly away-- no one knows where they have gone.
Nineveh Will Come to an End
18 Your shepherds are sleeping, [O] king of Assyria! Your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains; no one can gather them.
19
There is no healing for your wound; your injury is fatal. All who hear the report of you will clap [their] hands [for joy] concerning you, {For who has not suffered at the hands of your endless cruelty}?