1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; stealing does not depart from her! 2 The noise of the whip and the noise of the rattling of the wheels and of the prancing horses and of the jumping chariots shall be heard in thee. 3 The horseman lifts up both the bright sword and the glittering spear, and there is a multitude of slain and a great number of carcasses; and there shall be no end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses, 4 because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the harlot of beautiful grace, the mistress of witchcrafts that sells the Gentiles into slavery through her whoredoms and peoples through her witchcrafts.
5 Here I am against thee, saith the LORD of the hosts, and I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the Gentiles thy nakedness and the kingdoms thy shame. 6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee and make thee vile and will set thee as dung. 7 And it shall come to pass, that all those that look upon thee shall flee from thee and say, Nineveh is laid waste; who will bemoan her? from where shall I seek comforters for thee?
8 Art thou better than populous No that was situated among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? 9 Ethiopia was thy strength and Egypt with no limit; Put and Libia went to thy aid.
10 Yet she was carried away, she went into captivity; her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her nobles were bound in chains. 11 Thou also shalt be drunken; thou shalt be encompassed; thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. 12 All thy strongholds are like fig trees with the firstripe figs; if they are shaken, they even fall into the mouth of the eater. 13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee shall be like women; the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies; the fire shall devour thy bars.
14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brickkiln. 15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts. 16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven; the cankerworm spoils and flies away.
17 Thy princes shall be as the locusts and thy captains as the great grasshoppers which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun arises, they flee away, and it is not known where they were.
18 Thy shepherds have slumbered, O king of Assyria; thy valiant ones are at rest; thy people scattered themselves upon the mountains, and there is no one to unite them. 19 There is no cure for thy destruction; thy wound is grievous; all that hear thy story shall clap their hands over thee; for upon whom has not thy wickedness passed continually?