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3. Woe to Nineveh

¹ Woe to the city of blood,
   full of lies,
full of plunder,
   never without victims!
² The crack of whips,
   the clatter of wheels,
galloping horses
   and jolting chariots!
³ Charging cavalry,
   flashing swords
   and glittering spears!
Many casualties,
   piles of dead,
bodies without number,
   people stumbling over the corpses—
⁴ all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute,
   alluring, the mistress of sorceries,
who enslaved nations by her prostitution
   and peoples by her witchcraft.

    ⁵ “I am against you,” declares the LORD Almighty.
   “I will lift your skirts over your face.
I will show the nations your nakedness
   and the kingdoms your shame.
⁶ I will pelt you with filth,
   I will treat you with contempt
   and make you a spectacle.
⁷ All who see you will flee from you and say,
   ‘Nineveh is in ruins—who will mourn for her?’
   Where can I find anyone to comfort you?”

    ⁸ Are you better than Thebes,
   situated on the Nile,
   with water around her?
The river was her defense,
   the waters her wall.
⁹ Cush That is, the upper Nile region and Egypt were her boundless strength;
   Put and Libya were among her allies.
¹⁰ Yet she was taken captive
   and went into exile.
Her infants were dashed to pieces
   at every street corner.
Lots were cast for her nobles,
   and all her great men were put in chains.
¹¹ You too will become drunk;
   you will go into hiding
   and seek refuge from the enemy.

    ¹² All your fortresses are like fig trees
   with their first ripe fruit;
when they are shaken,
   the figs fall into the mouth of the eater.
¹³ Look at your troops—
   they are all weaklings.
The gates of your land
   are wide open to your enemies;
   fire has consumed the bars of your gates.

    ¹⁴ Draw water for the siege,
   strengthen your defenses!
Work the clay,
   tread the mortar,
   repair the brickwork!
¹⁵ There the fire will consume you;
   the sword will cut you down—
   they will devour you like a swarm of locusts.
Multiply like grasshoppers,
   multiply like locusts!
¹⁶ You have increased the number of your merchants
   till they are more numerous than the stars in the sky,
but like locusts they strip the land
   and then fly away.
¹⁷ Your guards are like locusts,
   your officials like swarms of locusts
   that settle in the walls on a cold day—
but when the sun appears they fly away,
   and no one knows where.

    ¹⁸ King of Assyria, your shepherds That is, rulers slumber;
   your nobles lie down to rest.
Your people are scattered on the mountains
   with no one to gather them.
¹⁹ Nothing can heal you;
   your wound is fatal.
All who hear the news about you
   clap their hands at your fall,
for who has not felt
   your endless cruelty?

Yet, he says, she departed into captivity a captive; that is, the inhabitants of Alexandria have been banished, and the city become as it were captive, for its inhabitants were driven here and there. Dashed, he says, have been their little ones at the head of every street The Prophet means, that so great a power as that of Alexandria did not prevent the conquerors to exercise towards her the most barbarous cruelty; for it was a savage act to dash little children against stones, who ought on account of their tender age, to have been spared. There was indeed no reason for raging against them, for they could not have been deemed enemies. But yet the Prophet says that Alexandria had been thus treated; and he said this, that Nineveh might not trust in her strength, and thus perversely despise God’s judgment, which he now denounced on it. He adds, They cast lots on her princess and bound were her great men with fetters In saying that lots were cast, he refers to an ancient custom; for when there was any dispute respecting a captive, the lot was cast: as for instance, when two had taken one man, to prevent contention, it was by lot determined who was to be his master. So then he says that lots were cast on their princes. This usually happened to the common people and to the lowest slaves; but the Prophet says that the conquerors spared not even the princes. They were therefore treated as the lowest class; and though they were great princes, they were led into captivity and bound with chains, in the same manner with the meanest and the lowest of the people. They were not treated according to their rank; and there was no differences between the chief men and the most degraded of the humbler classes; for even the very princes were so brought down, that their lot differed not from that of the wretched; for as common people are usually treated with contempt, so were the chiefs of Alexandria treated by their enemies.