New Century Version NCV
Good News Translation GNT
1 How terrible it will be for the city that has killed so many. It is full of lies and goods stolen from other countries. It is always killing somebody.
1
Doomed is the lying, murderous city, full of wealth to be looted and plundered!
2 Hear the sound of whips and the noise of the wheels. Hear horses galloping and chariots bouncing along!
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Listen! The crack of the whip, the rattle of wheels, the gallop of horses, the jolting of chariots!
3 Horses are charging, swords are shining, spears are gleaming! Many are dead; their bodies are piled up -- too many to count. People stumble over the dead bodies.
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Cavalry troops charge, swords flash, spears gleam! Corpses are piled high, dead bodies without number - men stumble over them!
4 The city was like a prostitute; she was charming and a lover of magic. She made nations slaves with her prostitution and her witchcraft.
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Nineveh the whore is being punished. Attractive and full of deadly charms, she enchanted nations and enslaved them.
5 "I am against you, Nineveh," says the Lord All-Powerful. "I will pull your dress up over your face and show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame.
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The Lord Almighty says, "I will punish you, Nineveh! I will strip you naked and let the nations see you, see you in all your shame.
6 I will throw filthy garbage on you and make a fool of you. I will make people stare at you.
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I will treat you with contempt and cover you with filth. People will stare at you in horror.
7 Everyone who sees you will run away and say, 'Nineveh is in ruins. Who will cry for her?' Nineveh, where will I find anyone to comfort you?"
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All who see you will shrink back. They will say, "Nineveh lies in ruins! Who has any sympathy for her? Who will want to comfort her?' "
8 You are no better than Thebes, who sits by the Nile River with water all around her. The river was her defense; the waters were like a wall around her.
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Nineveh, are you any better than Thebes, the capital of Egypt? She too had a river to protect her like a wall - the Nile was her defense.
9 Cush and Egypt gave her endless strength; Put and Libya supported her.
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She ruled Ethiopia and Egypt, there was no limit to her power; Libya was her ally.
10 But Thebes was captured and went into captivity. Her small children were beaten to death at every street corner. Lots were thrown for her important men, and all of her leaders were put in chains.
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Yet the people of Thebes were carried off into exile. At every street corner their children were beaten to death. Their leading men were carried off in chains and divided among their captors.
11 Nineveh, you will be drunk, too. You will hide; you will look for a place safe from the enemy.
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Nineveh, you too will fall into a drunken stupor! You too will try to escape from your enemies.
12 All your defenses are like fig trees with ripe fruit. When the tree is shaken, the figs fall into the mouth of the eater.
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All your fortresses will be like fig trees with ripe figs: shake the trees, and the fruit falls right into your mouth!
13 Look at your soldiers. They are all women! The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies; fire has burned the bars of your gates.
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Your soldiers are helpless, and your country stands defenseless before your enemies. Fire will destroy the bars across your gates.
14 Get enough water before the long war begins. Make your defenses strong! Get mud, mix clay, make bricks!
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Draw water to prepare for a siege, and strengthen your fortresses! Trample the clay to make bricks, and get the brick molds ready!
15 There the fire will burn you up. The sword will kill you; like grasshoppers eating crops, the battle will completely destroy you. Grow in number like hopping locusts; grow in number like swarming locusts!
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No matter what you do, you will still be burned to death or killed in battle. You will be wiped out like crops eaten up by locusts. You multiplied like locusts!
16 Your traders are more than the stars in the sky, but like locusts, they strip the land and then fly away.
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You produced more merchants than there are stars in the sky! But now they are gone, like locusts that spread their wings and fly away.
17 Your guards are like locusts. Your officers are like swarms of locusts that hang on the walls on a cold day. When the sun comes up, they fly away, and no one knows where they have gone.
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Your officials are like a swarm of locusts that stay in the walls on a cold day. But when the sun comes out, they fly away, and no one knows where they have gone!
18 King of Assyria, your rulers are asleep; your important men lie down to rest. Your people have been scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to bring them back.
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Emperor of Assyria, your governors are dead, and your noblemen are asleep forever! Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to bring them home again.
19 Nothing can heal your wound; your injury will not heal. Everyone who hears about you applauds, because everyone has felt your endless cruelty.
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There is no remedy for your injuries, and your wounds cannot be healed. All those who hear the news of your destruction clap their hands for joy. Did anyone escape your endless cruelty?
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.