^5 (J)Behold, I am against you,
    declares the Lord of hosts,
    and ^(K)will lift up your skirts over your face;
and I will make nations look at ^(L)your nakedness
    and kingdoms at your shame.
⁶ I will throw filth at you
    and ^(M)treat you with contempt
    and make you ^(N)a spectacle.
⁷ And all who look at you ^(O)will shrink from you and say,
“Wasted is ^(P)Nineveh; ^(Q)who will grieve for her?”
    ^(R)Where shall I seek comforters for you?

^8 (S)Are you better than ^(T)Thebes^[a]
    that sat ^(U)by the Nile,
with water around her,
    her rampart a sea,
    and water her wall?
^9 (V)Cush was her strength;
    Egypt too, and that without limit;
    ^(W)Put and the ^(X)Libyans were her^[b] helpers.

^10 (Y)Yet she became an exile;
    she went into captivity;
^(Z)her infants were dashed in pieces
    at the head of every street;
for her honored men ^(AA)lots were cast,
    ^(AB)and all her great men were bound in chains.
^11 (AC)You also will be drunken;
    you will go into hiding;
^(AD)you will seek a refuge from the enemy.
¹² All your fortresses are ^(AE)like fig trees
    with first-ripe figs—
if shaken they fall
    into the mouth of the eater.
¹³ Behold, your troops
    ^(AF)are women in your midst.
The gates of your land
    are wide open to your enemies;
    fire has devoured your bars.

^14 (AG)Draw water for the siege;
    ^(AH)strengthen your forts;
go into the clay;
    tread the mortar;
    take hold of the brick mold!
¹⁵ There will the fire devour you;
    the sword will cut you off.
    It will ^(AI)devour you ^(AJ)like the locust.
Multiply yourselves ^(AK)like the locust;
    multiply ^(AL)like the grasshopper!
¹⁶ You increased ^(AM)your merchants
    more than the stars of the heavens.
    ^(AN)The locust spreads its wings and flies away.

¹⁷ Your ^(AO)princes^[c] are ^(AP)like grasshoppers,
    ^(AQ)your scribes^[d] like clouds of locusts
settling on the fences
    in a day of cold—
when the sun rises, they fly away;
    no one knows where they are.

¹⁸ Your shepherds ^(AR)are asleep,
    O king of Assyria;
    ^(AS)your nobles slumber.
Your people ^(AT)are scattered on the mountains
    with none to gather them.
¹⁹ There is no easing your hurt;
    ^(AU)your wound is grievous.
All who hear the news about you
    ^(AV)clap their hands over you.
For ^(AW)upon whom has not come
    your unceasing evil?