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

¹⁴ Draw water for the siege,^(F)
    strengthen your defenses!^(G)
Work the clay,
    tread the mortar,
    repair the brickwork!
¹⁵ There the fire^(H) will consume you;
    the sword^(I) will cut you down—
    they will devour you like a swarm of locusts.
Multiply like grasshoppers,
    multiply like locusts!^(J)
16 You have increased the number of your merchants
    till they are more numerous than the stars in the sky,
but like locusts^(K) they strip the land
    and then fly away.
¹⁷ Your guards are like locusts,^(L)
    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.