3:1 Woe (禍哉) to the bloody city! it [is] all full of lies [and] robbery; the prey departeth not;
3:2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the snorting horses, and of the jumping chariots.
3:3 The horseman charging, and the flashing sword, and the glittering spear; and a multitude of slain, and a heap of carcases; and there is no end of the corpses, and they stumble upon their corpses;
3:4 Because of the multitude of the harlotries of the well-favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her harlotries, and families through her witchcrafts.
3:5 Hinnei, I [am] against you, saith YHWH Tzva'ot; and I will uncover your skirts upon your face, and I will shew the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.
3:6 And I will cast detestable things upon you, and make you vile, and will make you as dung.
3:7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon you shall flee from you, and say, Nineveh (נינוה) is in ruins: who will bemoan her? from where shall I seek menachamim (comforters) for you?
3:8 Art thou better than No Amon (Thebes), that was situate among the rivers, [that had] the waters round about it, whose rampart [was] the sea, [and] her wall [was] from the sea?
3:9 Ethiopia and Mitzrayim [were] her strength, and [it was] infinite; Put and Lubim were your helpers.
3:10 Yet [was] she 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 great men were bound in chains.
3:11You also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.
3:12 All your fortresses [shall be like] fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.
3:13 Hinnei, your people in the midst of thee [are] women: the gates of your eretz shall be set wide open unto your enemies: the fire shall devour your bars.
3:14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify your fortresses: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brickmould.
3:15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the canker-worm: make yourself many as the canker-worm, make yourself many as the locusts.
3:16 You hast multiplied your merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm spoileth, and flieth away.
3:17 Your crowned [are] as the locusts, and your captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, [but] when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they [are].
3:18 Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: your nobles shall dwell [in the dust]: your people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth [them].
3:19 [There is] no healing of your bruise; your wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not your wickedness passed continually?