Woe to the City of Blood

1 Woe to the city that sheds blood! She is full of lies and stolen goods. 2 The slaughter never stops. The sound of striking blows and the rumble of wheels, and horses prancing and chariots bounding. 3 Horsemen rearing, and flame and glitter of swords, and flash of spears, and a great number of slain, and a multitude of dead bodies, and there is no end to the slain. They stumble over their slain. 4 All because of the great uproar of the city, which is like a prostitute, a woman of the streets, full of charm and skilled in enchantments, who betrays peoples with her prostitution and kingdoms with her enchantments.

5 “Look, I am sending my fury against you,” says the Lord of Hosts, “and I will uncover the⁠a shame of your sin before your face, and I will show the peoples your shame and the kingdoms your disgrace. 6 And I will throw filth on you and disgrace you, and make you contemptible in the eyes of everyone who sees you. 7 And everyone who sees you will flee far from you and say, ‘Nineveh is laid waste.’ Who will mourn for you? Where will I find comforters for you?”

No Better than Alexandria

8 Are you any better than⁠b great Alexandria, which sat among the rivers, with water all around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose walls were of the sea? 9 Ethiopia was her support, and Egypt too, without end. The people of Put and the Libyans were among your helpers. 10 Yet even she went into exile as a captive. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street, they cast lots for her honored men, and all her great men were brought low in chains.

11 You too will drink like a drunkard. You too will seek help against the enemy. 12 All your fortresses are like early figs that fall when they are shaken, and⁠c among them are left dried clusters fit for eating. 13 Look, your people within you are as weak as women. The gates of your land will surely be opened to your enemies, and fire will consume your strength.

14 Gather water within you, strengthen your fortresses, increase your power, put laborers to work in the clay, and reinforce your buildings. 15 There the⁠d strong peoples will come against you like fire, and those who kill by the sword will consume you. The armies of the peoples, as numerous as devouring locusts, will be assembled against you. 16 They will cover you like swarming locusts. They will devastate you like the locusts. You have made your traders more numerous than the stars of heaven. Look, they are like swarming locusts, which spread out and fly away. 17 Look, your coins glitter like locusts, and your satraps are like young locusts that settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun breaks out on them, they scatter, and no one knows where they have fled.

18 Your⁠e strong men are broken, king of Assyria. The people of your armies are in exile. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and no one gathers them. 19 No one mourns⁠f for your injury. Your wound is fatal. All who hear the news about you will clap their hands over you, rejoicing, for on whom has the blow of your wickedness not fallen continually?