¹³ Then he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria. He will make Nineveh desolate, dry like the wilderness. ¹⁴ Flocks and herds will lie down there, with all sorts of other creatures. Screech owls and hedgehogs^[a] will live among its columns. Owls will hoot through the windows. Rubble will cover the thresholds. Even the cedar beams will be exposed. ¹⁵ This was the smug city that lived securely, that said to herself, “I am all there is. There are none that compare to me.” What a heap of ruins she has become, a place for wild animals to lie down! Everyone who passes by taunts her and shakes his fist.