⁵ “I am your enemy!”
    says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
“And now I will lift your skirts
    and show all the earth your nakedness and shame.
⁶ I will cover you with filth
    and show the world how vile you really are.
⁷ All who see you will shrink back and say,
    ‘Nineveh lies in ruins.
Where are the mourners?’
    Does anyone regret your destruction?”

⁸ Are you any better than the city of Thebes,^[a]
    situated on the Nile River, surrounded by water?
She was protected by the river on all sides,
    walled in by water.
⁹ Ethiopia^[b] and the land of Egypt
    gave unlimited assistance.
The nations of Put and Libya
    were among her allies.
¹⁰ Yet Thebes fell,
    and her people were led away as captives.
Her babies were dashed to death
    against the stones of the streets.
Soldiers threw dice^[c] to get Egyptian officers as servants.
    All their leaders were bound in chains.

¹¹ And you, Nineveh, will also stagger like a drunkard.
    You will hide for fear of the attacking enemy.
¹² All your fortresses will fall.
    They will be devoured like the ripe figs
that fall into the mouths
    of those who shake the trees.
¹³ Your troops will be as weak
    and helpless as women.
The gates of your land will be opened wide to the enemy
    and set on fire and burned.
¹⁴ Get ready for the siege!
    Store up water!
    Strengthen the defenses!
Go into the pits to trample clay,
    and pack it into molds,
    making bricks to repair the walls.

¹⁵ But the fire will devour you;
    the sword will cut you down.
The enemy will consume you like locusts,
    devouring everything they see.
There will be no escape,
    even if you multiply like swarming locusts.
¹⁶ Your merchants have multiplied
    until they outnumber the stars.
But like a swarm of locusts,
    they strip the land and fly away.
¹⁷ Your guards^[d] and officials are also like swarming locusts
    that crowd together in the hedges on a cold day.
But like locusts that fly away when the sun comes up,
    all of them will fly away and disappear.

¹⁸ Your shepherds are asleep, O Assyrian king;
    your princes lie dead in the dust.
Your people are scattered across the mountains
    with no one to gather them together.
¹⁹ There is no healing for your wound;
    your injury is fatal.
All who hear of your destruction
    will clap their hands for joy.
Where can anyone be found
    who has not suffered from your continual cruelty?

⁷ The Lord is good,
    a strong refuge when trouble comes.
    He is close to those who trust in him.
⁸ But he will sweep away his enemies^[a]
    in an overwhelming flood.
He will pursue his foes
    into the darkness of night.

⁹ Why are you scheming against the Lord?
    He will destroy you with one blow;
    he won’t need to strike twice!
¹⁰ His enemies, tangled like thornbushes
    and staggering like drunks,
    will be burned up like dry stubble in a field.
¹¹ Who is this wicked counselor of yours
    who plots evil against the Lord?

¹² This is what the Lord says:
“Though the Assyrians have many allies,
    they will be destroyed and disappear.
O my people, I have punished you before,
    but I will not punish you again.

³ You are like mighty Assyria,
    which was once like a cedar of Lebanon,
with beautiful branches that cast deep forest shade
    and with its top high among the clouds.
⁴ Deep springs watered it
    and helped it to grow tall and luxuriant.
The water flowed around it like a river,
    streaming to all the trees nearby.
⁵ This great tree towered high,
    higher than all the other trees around it.
It prospered and grew long thick branches
    because of all the water at its roots.
⁶ The birds nested in its branches,
    and in its shade all the wild animals gave birth.
All the great nations of the world
    lived in its shadow.
⁷ It was strong and beautiful,
    with wide-spreading branches,
for its roots went deep
    into abundant water.
⁸ No other cedar in the garden of God
    could rival it.
No cypress had branches to equal it;
    no plane tree had boughs to compare.
No tree in the garden of God
    came close to it in beauty.
⁹ Because I made this tree so beautiful,
    and gave it such magnificent foliage,
it was the envy of all the other trees of Eden,
    the garden of God.

¹³ “The birds roost on its fallen trunk,
    and the wild animals lie among its branches.
¹⁴ Let the tree of no other nation
    proudly exult in its own prosperity,
though it be higher than the clouds
    and it be watered from the depths.
For all are doomed to die,
    to go down to the depths of the earth.
They will land in the pit
    along with everyone else on earth.

³³ Topheth—the place of burning—
    has long been ready for the Assyrian king;
    the pyre is piled high with wood.
The breath of the Lord, like fire from a volcano,
    will set it ablaze.