The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 Doom to Murder City - full of lies, bursting with loot, addicted to violence!
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Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder— no end to the prey!
2 Horns blaring, wheels clattering, horses rearing, chariots lurching,
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The crack of the whip, and rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!
3 Horsemen galloping, brandishing swords and spears, Dead bodies rotting in the street, corpses stacked like cordwood, Bodies in every gutter and alley, clogging every intersection!
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Horsemen charging, flashing sword and glittering spear, hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end—they stumble over the bodies!
4 And whores! Whores without end! Whore City, Fatally seductive, you're the Witch of Seduction, luring nations to their ruin with your evil spells.
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And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms, who betrays nations with her whorings, and peoples with her charms.
5 "I'm your enemy, Whore Nineveh - I, God-of-the-Angel-Armies! I'll strip you of your seductive silk robes and expose you on the world stage. I'll let the nations get their fill of the ugly truth of who you really are and have been all along.
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Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame.
6 I'll pelt you with dog dung and place you on a pedestal: 'Slut on Exhibit.'
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I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle.
7 Everyone who sees you will gag and say, 'Nineveh's a pigsty: What on earth did we ever see in her? Who would give her a second look? Ugh!'" Past the Point of No Return
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And all who look at you will shrink from you and say, “Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her? ” Where shall I seek comforters for you?
8 Do you think you're superior to Egyptian Thebes, proudly invincible on the River Nile, Protected by the great River, walled in by the River, secure?
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Are you better than Thebes that sat by the Nile, with water around her, her rampart a sea, and water her wall?
9 Ethiopia stood guard to the south, Egypt to the north. Put and Libya, strong friends, were ready to step in and help.
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Cush was her strength; Egypt too, and that without limit; Put and the Libyans were her helpers.
10 But you know what happened to her: The whole city was marched off to a refugee camp, Her babies smashed to death in public view on the streets, Her prize leaders auctioned off, her celebrities put in chain gangs.
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Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity; her infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street; for her honored men lots were cast, and all her great men were bound in chains.
11 Expect the same treatment, Nineveh. You'll soon be staggering like a bunch of drunks, Wondering what hit you, looking for a place to sleep it off.
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You also will be drunken; you will go into hiding; you will seek a refuge from the enemy.
12 All your forts are like peach trees, the lush peaches ripe, ready for the picking. One shake of the tree and they fall straight into hungry mouths.
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All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs—if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Face it: Your warriors are wimps. You're sitting ducks. Your borders are gaping doors, inviting your enemies in. And who's to stop them?
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Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars.
14 Store up water for the siege. Shore up your defenses. Get down to basics: Work the clay and make bricks.
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Draw water for the siege; strengthen your forts; go into the clay; tread the mortar; take hold of the brick mold!
15 Sorry. Too late. Enemy fire will burn you up. Swords will cut you to pieces. You'll be chewed up as if by locusts. Yes, as if by locusts - a fitting fate, for you yourselves are a locust plague.
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There will the fire devour you; the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust; multiply like the grasshopper!
16 You've multiplied shops and shopkeepers - more buyers and sellers than stars in the sky! A plague of locusts, cleaning out the neighborhood and then flying off.
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You increased your merchants more than the stars of the heavens. The locust spreads its wings and flies away.
17 Your bureaucrats are locusts, your brokers and bankers are locusts. Early on, they're all at your service, full of smiles and promises, But later when you return with questions or complaints, you'll find they've flown off and are nowhere to be found.
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Your princes are like grasshoppers, your scribes like clouds of locusts settling on the fences in a day of cold—when the sun rises, they fly away; no one knows where they are.
18 King of Assyria! Your shepherd-leaders, in charge of caring for your people, Are busy doing everything else but. They're not doing their job, And your people are scattered and lost. There's no one to look after them.
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Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them.
19 You're past the point of no return. Your wound is fatal. When the story of your fate gets out, the whole world will applaud and cry "Encore!" Your cruel evil has seeped into every nook and cranny of the world. Everyone has felt it and suffered.
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There is no easing your hurt; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you. For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil?
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025