Judgment on Nineveh 1 UST Terrible things will happen to Nineveh, that city that is full of people who continually murder{ people} and lie{ to others} and steal{ valuable things from people in other countries}. Their armies constantly bring to the city the people and things that they have stolen. BSB BSB: Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.
2 UST { But now listen as the enemy soldiers come to attack Nineveh!} Listen to them cracking their whips, and listen to the rattle of their{ chariot} wheels! Listen to their galloping horses and their chariots as they bounce along! BSB BSB: The crack of the whip, the rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!
3 UST Look at their flashing swords and glittering spears as the horsemen race forward! The enemy soldiers will kill many people of Nineveh. There will be piles of corpses, so many dead bodies that people will stumble over them. BSB BSB: Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end—they stumble over their dead—
4 UST All of that will happen because Nineveh is like a beautiful prostitute who attracts many men and destroys them, and who practices witchcraft. The people of Nineveh teach people of other nations to worship Nineveh’ s idols. They control other people through witchcraft and cause them to become their slaves. BSB BSB: because of the many harlotries of the harlot, the seductive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft.
5 UST So Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, says to the people of Nineveh:“I am your enemy, and I will completely humiliate you in the sight of the people of other nations, just as people humiliate a woman who has committed adultery by lifting her skirt over her head so that people can see her naked body. People of other nations will be ashamed of you. BSB BSB: “Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.
6 UST It will be as though I am throwing garbage on you; I will show others that I despise you very much, and I will cause everyone to publicly ridicule you. BSB BSB: I will pelt you with filth and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you.
7 UST All those who see you will run away from you and say,‘Nineveh lies in ruins, but absolutely no one will mourn for it.’ People of Nineveh, no one will want to comfort you.” BSB BSB: Then all who see you will recoil from you and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated; who will grieve for her?’ Where can I find comforters for you?”
8 UST Nineveh is not stronger than the city of Thebes was. Thebes was an important city beside the Nile River; deep water protected Thebes on all sides. BSB BSB: Are you better than Thebes, stationed by the Nile with water around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the water?
9 UST The rulers of Cush and Egypt helped Thebes; together they were very strong. The governments of the nearby countries of Put and Libya were also allies of Thebes. BSB BSB: Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were her allies.
10 UST Nevertheless, enemies conquered Thebes and took its people as captives. The enemies smashed the babies of Thebes to death in the streets. The enemies used marked stones to choose which officials they would take as slaves. The enemies led all of the leaders of Thebes away in chains. BSB BSB: Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains.
11 UST You people of Nineveh will similarly become confused. You will search for places to hide from your enemies as they did. BSB BSB: You too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy.
12 UST When people want to eat the first figs, all they have to do is shake the fig tree and the figs fall into their mouths. Your enemies will capture your fortresses that quickly and easily. BSB BSB: All your fortresses are fig trees with the first ripe figs; when shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater!
13 UST Look at your soldiers! They are as weak as women! The gates of your cities will be wide open to allow your enemies to enter them, and your enemies will burn the beams{ of those gates}. BSB BSB: Look at your troops—they are like your women! The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire consumes their bars.
14 UST { People of Nineveh,} store up water now to use when your enemies surround the city! Make your defensive buildings stronger! Dig up clay and trample it{ to make it soft}; put it into molds to make bricks{ to strengthen the walls}! BSB BSB: Draw your water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Work the clay and tread the mortar; repair the brick kiln!
15 UST Nevertheless, your enemies will burn your city; they will kill you with their swords; they will kill you as locusts destroy crops. Increase your population like grasshoppers and swarms of locusts! BSB BSB: There the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you down and consume you like a young locust. Make yourself many like the young locust; make yourself many like the swarming locust!
16 UST In your city there are now very many merchants; almost more than one could count. But{ when your city is being destroyed,} they will take all the valuable things and quickly leave, like locusts that strip the leaves from plants and then fly away. BSB BSB: You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips the land and flies away.
17 UST Your leaders are also like a swarm of locusts that crowd together on the stone walls on a cold day. When the sun shines, they fly away, and no one knows where they have gone. BSB BSB: Your guards are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts that settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows where.
18 UST King of Assyria, all of your important people will die. Your people will scatter to many different places in the mountains, and there will be no one to gather them together. BSB BSB: O king of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your officers sleep. Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them.
19 UST Nothing can help you now. You are like someone who has a fatal wound. All of those who hear about what has happened to you will{ joyfully} clap their hands about it. They will do this because all of them have suffered from your continual evil actions. BSB BSB: There is no healing for your injury; your wound is severe. All who hear the news of you applaud your downfall, for who has not experienced your constant cruelty?