3:1  Woe to the bloody city, completely full of lies {and} pillage; {Her} prey never departs.

3:2  The noise of the whip, The noise of the rattling of the wheel, Galloping horses And bounding chariots!

3:3  Horsemen charging, Swords flashing, spears gleaming, Many slain, a mass of corpses, And countless dead bodies-- They stumble over the dead bodies!

3:4  {All} because of the many harlotries of the harlot, The charming one, the mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations by her harlotries And families by her sorceries.

3:5  "Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts; "And I will lift up your skirts over your face, And show to the nations your nakedness And to the kingdoms your disgrace."

3:6  "I will throw filth on you And make you vile, And set you up as a spectacle.

3:7  "And it will come about that all who see you Will shrink from you and say, `Nineveh is devastated! Who will grieve for her?' Where will I seek comforters for you?"

3:8  Are you better than No-amon, Which was situated by the waters of the Nile, With water surrounding her, Whose rampart {was} the sea, Whose wall {consisted} of the sea?

3:9  Ethiopia was {her} might, And Egypt too, without limits. Put and Lubim were among her helpers.

3:10  Yet she became an exile, She went into captivity; Also her small children were dashed to pieces At the head of every street; They cast lots for her honorable men, And all her great men were bound with fetters.

3:11  You too will become drunk, You will be hidden. You too will search for a refuge from the enemy.

3:12  All your fortifications are fig trees with ripe fruit-- When shaken, they fall into the eater's mouth.

3:13  Behold, your people are women in your midst! The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies; Fire consumes your gate bars.

3:14  Draw for yourself water for the siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Go into the clay and tread the mortar! Take hold of the brick mold!

3:15  There fire will consume you, The sword will cut you down; It will consume you as the locust {does.} Multiply yourself like the creeping locust, Multiply yourself like the swarming locust.

3:16  You have increased your traders more than the stars of heaven-- The creeping locust strips and flies away.

3:17  Your guardsmen are like the swarming locust. Your marshals are like hordes of grasshoppers Settling in the stone walls on a cold day. The sun rises and they flee, And the place where they are is not known.

3:18  Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria; Your nobles are lying down. Your people are scattered on the mountains And there is no one to regather {them.}

3:19  There is no relief for your breakdown, Your wound is incurable. All who hear about you Will clap {their} hands over you, For on whom has not your evil passed continually?