Bible in 90 Days

¹¹ On that day I shall raise up
    the fallen hut of David.
I will repair the gaps in its walls,
    restore its ruins,
    and rebuild it as in the days of old,
¹² so that Israel may possess the remnant of Edom
    and of all the nations that bear my name;
    I, the Lord, will accomplish this.

¹³ The days are surely coming,
    says the Lord,
when the plowman shall overtake
    the one who reaps,
and the treader of grapes will overtake
    the one who sows the seed.
New wine will drip from the mountains,
    and every hill will flow with it.
¹⁴ I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel;
    they will rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them.
They will plant vineyards and drink their wine,
    cultivate gardens and eat their fruit.
¹⁵ I will plant them in their own soil,
    and they shall never again be uprooted
from the land I have given them.
    This is the word of the Lord, your God.

I heard a message from the Lord,
    and a herald has been sent to advise the nations:
    “Rise up! Let us attack Edom!”

I will make you the least of all the nations;
    you are the object of utter contempt.
³ The pride in your heart has led you astray,
    you who live in the crannies of the rock,
    whose dwelling is on the heights.
You think to yourself,
    “Who can bring me down to the ground?”
⁴ Even though you soar like an eagle
    and your nest is set among the stars,
from there I will bring you down
    says the Lord.
⁵ If thieves approached you,
    or robbers during the night,
you would not be destroyed,
    for wouldn’t they steal only what they wanted?
If grape-pickers were to come to you,
    wouldn’t they leave gleanings?
⁶ But note how they will ransack Esau
    and steal his hidden treasures.
⁷ All your former allies
    will drive you to your borders.
Your confederates will overpower you,
    those who eat your bread will set a trap for you,
    but you will not realize it.^[a]
8 On that day, says the Lord,
    I will destroy all the wise men of Edom,
    and wisdom will disappear from the mountains of Esau.
⁹ Your warriors will be so terrified, O Teman,^[b]
    that there will be no survivors on the mountains of Esau.
¹⁰ Because of the slaughter and the violence
    inflicted on your brother Jacob,
shame will cover you
    and you will be cut off forever.
¹¹ On the day when you stood aside
    while strangers carried off his wealth,
and foreigners passed through his gates
    and cast lots for Jerusalem,
    you were as evil as they were.

¹² Do not gloat over your brother
    on the day of his misfortune.
Do not rejoice over the children of Judah
    on the day of their ruin,
nor boast unfeelingly
    on the day of their distress.
¹³ Do not enter the gate of my people
    on the day of their calamity.
Do not join in the gloating
    on the day of their calamity.
Do not lay your hands on their possessions
    on the day of their calamity.
¹⁴ Do not wait at the crossroads
    to slaughter their fugitives.
Do not hand over the survivors
    on the day of their distress.
¹⁵ For the day of the Lord is near
    for all the nations.
As you have done,
    so will it be done to you;
    your deeds will recoil upon your own head.

¹⁶ Just as you have drunk on my holy mountain,
    so shall all the nations drink continually;
they shall drink and gulp it down
    and be as though they had never been.
¹⁷ But on Mount Zion a remnant will be saved;
    it will be holy,
and the house of Jacob will take possession
    of those who dispossessed them.
¹⁸ Then the house of Jacob will be a fire,
    and the house of Joseph a flame.
The house of Esau will be stubble;
    it will be set afire and consumed,
and no one of the house of Esau will survive,
    for the Lord has spoken.
¹⁹ My people from the Negeb^[c]
    will occupy the mount of Esau,
and people from the lowlands
    will occupy the foothills
    of the land of the Philistines.
They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria,
    and Benjamin will possess Gilead.
²⁰ The exiles of the Israelites
    will possess Phoenicia as far as Zarephath,^[d]
and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
    will possess the towns of the Negeb.
²¹ Those who have been saved
    will ascend Mount Zion
to rule over the mountains of Esau,
    and dominion will belong to the Lord.

³ In my distress I called to the Lord,
    and he answered me.
From the belly of the netherworld I cried out for help,
    and you heard my voice.
⁴ For you cast me into the deep,
    into the heart of the sea,
and the flood enveloped me;
    all your waves and your billows swept over me.
⁵ Then I thought, “I have been banished from your sight.
    Will I ever be allowed again
    to look upon your holy temple?”
⁶ The waters around me rose to my neck,
    and the deep was closing around me;
    seaweed was twined around my head.
⁷ Down I plunged to the roots of the mountains,
    sinking to the netherworld
    whose bars would imprison me forever.
But you brought me up alive from the pit,
    O Lord, my God.
⁸ As my life was ebbing away,
    I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer reached you
    in your holy temple.
⁹ Those who worship false gods
    abandon the source of their mercy.
¹⁰ But I with hymns of praise
    will offer sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will fulfill.
    Salvation comes from the Lord.

² Listen, all you peoples!
    Give heed, O earth, and all who dwell in it.
Let the Lord God be a witness against you,
    the Lord from his holy temple.
³ Take note that the Lord is leaving his dwelling place;
    he comes down and treads upon the heights of the earth.
⁴ The mountains melt at his touch,
    and the valleys are torn open,
like wax near a fire,
    like water pouring down a hillside.
⁵ All this is the result
    of the crime of Jacob
    and the sins of Israel.
What is the crime of Jacob?
    Is it not Samaria?
And what is the sin of the house of Judah?
    Is it not Jerusalem?
⁶ Therefore, I will reduce Samaria
    to a ruin in the open country,
    a place for planting vineyards.
I will hurl down her stones into the valley
    and lay bare her foundations.
⁷ All of her idols will be shattered,
    all of her earnings will be consumed by fire,
    and all of her statues I will lay waste.
For she amassed her gifts
    from the wages of prostitution,^[j]
and the earnings of a prostitute
    they once more will become.

⁸ This is the reason why I will lament and wail,
    why I will go barefoot and naked.
I will howl like a jackal
    and mourn like a desert owl.
⁹ There is no remedy for the wounds
    that the Lord inflicts;
    now the blow has fallen on Judah.
It has reached the very gate of my people,
    even to Jerusalem.
¹⁰ Do not announce it in Gath,
    nor shed any tears.
In Beth-leaphrah
    roll yourselves in the dust.
¹¹ Begin your journey,
    you inhabitants of Shaphir.
Those who dwell in Zaanan
    have not left their city.
Beth-ezel is filled with lamentation
    and no longer can offer you support.
¹² The inhabitants of Maroth
    are filled with despair.
For disaster has come down from the Lord
    to the very gate of Jerusalem.
¹³ Harness the steeds to the chariots
    you inhabitants of Lachish.
You first led the daughter of Zion into sin;
    the crimes of Israel can be traced to you.
¹⁴ Therefore, you shall offer parting gifts
    to Moresheth-gath.
Beth-achzib will prove to be deceptive
    to the kings of Israel.
¹⁵ I will again send a conqueror against you,
    O inhabitants of Mareshah.
And the glory of Israel
    shall be transferred to Adullam.
¹⁶ Shave your heads in mourning
    for the children who were your delight.
Make yourselves as bald as the eagle,
    for they have gone from you into exile.

¹ Woe to those who plot evil,
    who lie in their beds planning iniquity.
When morning dawns they perform their wicked deeds
    since they have the power to do so.
² They seize the fields that they covet;
    they confiscate houses as well.
They lay hands on the owner of a house,
    and take his inheritance as well.

Behold, I am planning against this people an evil
    from which you will not be able to save your necks.
Nor will you walk proudly,
    for it will be a time of disaster.
⁴ On that day they will ridicule you,
    and your mournful dirge will be heard:
“We are utterly ruined;
    our land has been appropriated by our captors.
Our fields have been awarded to renegades,
    and no one can retrieve them.”
⁵ Therefore, you will have no one
    to divide the land by lot
    in the assembly of the Lord.

⁶ “Do not preach,” they advise;
    “one should not expound on such matters;
    disgrace will not overtake us.”
⁷ O house of Jacob, should it be said:
    “Has the Lord’s patience been exhausted?
    Does he do such things?
His words only prophesy good
    to those who are upright.”
⁸ But now you have risen up
    as an enemy to my people.
You strip the cloaks from travelers
    who pass by peacefully,
    or from soldiers returning from battle.
⁹ The women of my people you drive forth
    from their pleasant homes
and deprive their children
    of my glory forever,
¹⁰ commanding them, “Get up and depart,
    for you cannot stay here.”
To obtain something worthless for yourselves,
    you do not hesitate to practice extortion.

¹¹ If someone were to go about
    uttering falsehoods and lies, and saying,
“I prophesy that you will have your fill
    of wine and strong drink,”
such a man would be the perfect prophet
    for a people like this.
¹² I will gather all of you together, O Jacob;
    I will assemble the remnant of Israel.
I will gather them together
    like sheep into a fold,
like a flock in a pasture;
    no longer will they be filled with panic.
¹³ With their leader proceeding before them,
    they shall break through the gate and go out.
Their king will go forth before them,
    the Lord at their head.

Listen, you leaders of the house of Jacob,
    you rulers of the house of Israel.
Should you not be responsible
    to know what is right?
² And yet you hate what is good
    and love what is evil.
³ You eat the flesh of my people
    and strip off their skin;
you break their bones into pieces
    like flesh for the pot,
    like meat in a cauldron.
⁴ Then they will cry out to the Lord,
    but he will not answer them.
He will conceal his face from them at that time
    because of the evil they have done.

⁵ Thus says the Lord about the prophets
    who lead my people astray,
who promise prosperity
    when they have something to eat,
but who declare war against those
    who put no food into their mouths.
⁶ Therefore, you will have night without vision
    and darkness without divination.
The sun will go down on the prophets;
    for them the daytime will be black.
⁷ Then the seers will be disgraced
    and the diviners will be put to shame.
They will all cover their lips,
    for there is no answer from God.
⁸ But as for me, I am filled with strength,
    with the Spirit of the Lord,
    with justice and might
to declare to Jacob his crime
    and to Israel his sin.

⁹ Listen to this,
    you leaders of the house of Jacob,
    you rulers of the house of Israel,
who despise justice
    and pervert what is right,
¹⁰ who build Zion through bloodshed
    and Jerusalem through wickedness.
¹¹ Her leaders accept bribes for favorable judgments,
    her priests render judgments for a fee,
    her prophets practice divination for money.
And yet they rely upon the Lord, saying,
    “Isn’t the Lord in our midst?
    No harm can come upon us.”
¹² Therefore, because of you,
    Zion will be plowed like a field.
Jerusalem will be reduced to a heap of rubble,
    and the temple mount to a height
    overgrown with thickets.

¹ In days to come,
    the mountain of the Lord’s house
will be established as the highest of the mountains,
    towering above other hills.
Peoples will stream toward it;
²     many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob,
so that he may teach us his ways
    and we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion will instruction go forth,
    and from Jerusalem the word of the Lord.
³ He will judge between many peoples
    and serve as an arbiter,
    between mighty and distant nations.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up the sword against nation,
    nor will they ever again be trained for war.
⁴ Each man will sit under his own vine
    or under his own fig tree
with no cause for alarm,
    for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
⁵ For all the peoples go forth,
    each in the name of its god,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord, our God,
    forever and ever.

⁶ On that day, says the Lord,
    I will gather the lame;
I will assemble those who have been driven away
    and those whom I have afflicted.
⁷ I will make the lame into a remnant,
    and turn into a strong nation those who were cast off.
The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion
    now and forevermore.
⁸ As for you, O tower of the flock,^[m]
    hill of daughter Zion,
the promises made to you
    will be fulfilled,
and your former security will be restored,
    the sovereignty of daughter Jerusalem.

⁹ Why are you now crying out?
    Have you no king any longer,
    or has your counselor perished,
that you are afflicted with pains
    like a woman in labor?
¹⁰ Writhe in pain and cry aloud,
    O daughter Zion,
    like a woman in labor.
For now you must go forth from the city
    and camp in the open country.
You will go to Babylon
    where you will be saved.
There the Lord will deliver you
    from the hands of your enemies.

¹¹ But now many nations
    are gathered against you.
They say, “Let her be profaned;
    let us gloat over Zion.”
¹² However, they do not know
    the thoughts of the Lord
    or comprehend his plan.
For he has gathered them
    like sheaves on the threshing floor.
¹³ Arise and thresh,
    O daughter of Zion,
for I will make your horn like iron
    and your hooves like bronze
    so that you may crush many peoples.
You shall devote their ill-gotten gains to the Lord,
    their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.

¹⁴ Now withdraw behind your walls,
    for they have laid siege against you.
With a rod they will strike on the cheek
    the ruler of Israel.

¹ But from you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,^[o]
    among the tiniest of the clans of Judah,
from you will come forth for me
    one who is to be a ruler in Israel,
one whose origins are from the distant past,
    from ancient times.
² Therefore, the Lord will abandon them
    only until she who is in labor has given birth.
Then those of the people who survive
    will be reunited with the Israelites.
³ He will rise up to shepherd his flock
    by the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name
    of the Lord his God.
And they will live in security,
    for then his greatness will be renowned
to the ends of the earth.
⁴     He will ensure their peace.

If the Assyrians invade our country
    and set foot upon our land,
we shall raise against them seven shepherds
    and appoint eight^[p] men to serve as rulers.
⁵ They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword,
    and the land of Nimrod with drawn swords.
And we will be delivered from Assyria
    if it invades our country
    or treads upon our borders.

⁶ Then the remnant of Jacob,
    surrounded by many peoples,
will be like dew from the Lord,
    like showers on the grass,
which do not depend upon man
    or wait for any man’s bidding.
⁷ And among the nations the remnant of Jacob
    will be surrounded by many peoples,
like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
    like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,
trampling and tearing to pieces as it goes,
    with no one able to stop the carnage.
⁸ Your hand will be lifted up over your foes,
    and all your adversaries will be destroyed.
⁹ On that day, says the Lord,
    I will slaughter your horses
    and destroy your chariots.
¹⁰ I will demolish the cities of your land
    and raze all your fortresses to the ground.
¹¹ I will eliminate your sorcerers,
    and there will be no more soothsayers among you.
¹² I will cut down your images
    and the sacred pillars in your midst;
you will no longer worship
    the work of your hands.
¹³ I will uproot your sacred poles^[q]
    and destroy your cities.
¹⁴ In anger and fury, I will wreak vengeance
    on the nations that have disobeyed me.

¹ Listen to what the Lord has to say:
    Arise and state your case before the mountains,
    and let the hills hear your voice.
² Hearken, you mountains, to the Lord’s accusations;
    listen, you foundations that support the earth.
For the Lord has a case against his people;
    he intends to present it to Israel.
³ O my people, what, have I done to you?
    How have I wearied you? Answer me!
⁴ For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
    I redeemed you from the place of slavery,
and I sent as your leaders
    Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
⁵ My people, remember the plan
    that Balak, the king of Moab, devised,
    and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him.
Recall also your journey from Shittim^[r] to Gilgal
    so that you may know the saving justice of the Lord.

⁶ With what will I come before the Lord
    when I bow down before God on high?
Will I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Should I offer my firstborn son for my transgressions,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?^[s]
8 The Lord has told you, O man, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
Only this: to do what is right, to show mercy,
    and to walk humbly with your God.^[t]

⁹ Consider carefully what the Lord cries out to the city,
    for to fear his name is a mark of wisdom:
¹⁰ “Listen, you tribe of assembled citizens!
    How can I ignore the false measure
    and the accursed short bushel?
¹¹ Can I overlook rigged scales
    or a bag of fraudulent weights?
¹² The wealthy men of the city are steeped in violence;
    its inhabitants are liars
    and their tongues speak deceitfully.
¹³ Therefore, I intend to strike you with devastation
    because of your sins.
¹⁴ You will eat but not be satisfied,
    for your stomach will continue to experience hunger.
You will acquire but be unable to save,
    and what you do save,
    I will deliver up to the sword.
¹⁵ You will sow
    but you will not reap;
you will press the olives
    but you will not anoint yourself with oil;
you will tread the grapes
    but you will not drink the wine.
¹⁶ For you have kept the statutes of Omri
    and all the practices of the house of Ahab;
    you have adopted all their policies.
Therefore, I will make your land desolate
    and your citizens an object of scorn.
From this time on
    you will endure the scorn of other nations.”

¹ How great is my misery!
    I have become like one who,
when the summer fruit has been gathered
    and the vines have been gleaned,
finds not a single cluster of grapes to eat,
    nor any of those early figs for which I long.
² The faithful have vanished from the land;
    there is no honest person to be found.
They all lie in wait to shed blood;
    each one hunts his brother with a net.
³ Their hands are skilled in performing evil deeds;
    the ruler demands gifts,
the judge asks for a bribe,
    the powerful man follows his own desires.
⁴ The best of them is like a briar,
    the most upright like a thorn hedge.
The day of their punishment now approaches;
    now they will be seized by confusion.
⁵ Put no trust in a friend:
    have no confidence in a loved one.
Guard the portals of your mouth
    against her who lies in your embrace.
⁶ For a son maligns his father,
    a daughter rebels against her mother,
a daughter-in-law rises up against her mother-in-law;
    your enemies are to be found in your own household.
⁷ But as for me, I will look to the Lord.
    I place my hope in God my savior;
    my God will hear me.

⁸ Do not gloat over me, O my enemy.
    Although I have fallen, I will arise.
Although I sit in darkness,
    the Lord is my light.
⁹ I must endure the anger of the Lord
    because I have sinned against him,
until he takes up my cause
    and forgives my wrongs,
until he brings me into the light
    and I will behold his saving justice.
¹⁰ When my enemies see this,
    they will be filled with shame,
those who said to me,
    “Where is the Lord, your God?”
My eyes will see their downfall
    as they are trampled underfoot
    like mud in the streets.
¹¹ That will be the day for rebuilding your walls,
    the day for extending your boundaries.
¹² On that day a people will come to you,
    all the way from Assyria and from Egypt,
from Tyre to the Euphrates,
    from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
¹³ And the earth will be a wasteland
    because of its inhabitants,
    as a suitable punishment for their deeds.^[v]

¹⁴ Shepherd your people with your staff,
    the flock that is your heritage,
that lives by itself in a forest
    with meadows surrounding it.
Let them graze in Bashan^[w] and Gilead,
    as in the days of old.
¹⁵ Show us wondrous signs
    as in the days when you came out
    from the land of Egypt.
¹⁶ The nations will see and be confounded
    despite all their power.
They will put their hands over their mouths;
    their ears will become deaf.
¹⁷ They will lick the dust like snakes,
    like reptiles that crawl on the ground.
They will come trembling out of their strongholds
    and turn in dread to behold the Lord, our God,
    as they approach him in awe and terror.

¹⁸ What god can compare with you,
    the God who takes away guilt
and forgives the transgressions
    of the remnant of your people?
You will not allow your anger to fester forever,
    for your delight is in bestowing mercy.
¹⁹ You will again show us compassion
    and wash away our guilt;
you will cast all our sins
    into the depths of the sea.
²⁰ You will show faithfulness to Jacob
    and unswerving mercy to Abraham
as you swore to our ancestors
    from the days of old.

² The Lord is a jealous God
    who does not hesitate to wreak vengeance
    or to show his anger.
The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
    and stores up wrath against his enemies.
³ The Lord is slow to anger but great in power,
    and he will never allow the guilty
    to escape punishment.
He makes his way in whirlwind and storm,
    and the clouds are the dust beneath his feet.
⁴ He rebukes the sea and leaves it dry,
    and he dries up all the rivers.
Bashan and Carmel wither,
    and the greenery of Lebanon fades.^[ad]
5 The mountains quake before him,
    and the hills dissolve;
the earth collapses before him,
    the world and all who live in it.
⁶ When confronted by his anger,
    who can stand firm?
Who can endure his burning wrath?
    His fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are shattered before him.
⁷ The Lord is good,
    an unfailing refuge in a time of distress.
He takes care of those who place their trust in him,
⁸     even if they are in peril from a raging flood.
He will make an end of those who oppose him,
    and he will pursue his enemies into darkness.

⁹ Why do you devise plots against the Lord?
    He will make an end of you.
None of his adversaries rise up to confront him
    for a second time.
¹⁰ Like a thicket of thornbushes, they are entangled;
    like dry straw they will be utterly consumed.
¹¹ From your number, one has emerged
    who plots evil against the Lord
    and counsels wickedness.

No matter how numerous they are,
    no matter how great their strength,
    they will be cut down and pass away.
Even though I have afflicted you,
    I will make you suffer no more.
¹³ Now I will break off their yoke from your neck
    and snap the shackles that bind you.
¹⁴ In regard to you, Nineveh,
    the Lord has decreed
that no more descendants will be born
    to perpetuate your name.
I will remove carved images and sculpted idols
    from the temple of your gods.
And I will prepare your grave,
    for you are worthless.

¹ Behold on the mountains the feet of the herald
    who proclaims good news and announces peace.
Celebrate your festivals, O Judah,
    and fulfill your vows.
For never again will the wicked invade you;
    they will be completely destroyed.
² The Lord will restore the majesty of Jacob
    as well as that of Israel,^[af]
even though the plunderers have ravaged them
    and destroyed their vines.
³ A destroying enemy is advancing against you;
    guard the ramparts.
Keep watch on the road,
    gird your loins,
and prepare to exert
    every last ounce of courage.

⁴ The shields of his warriors are red with blood;
    their garments are scarlet in color.
The metal on the chariots flashes
    as he summons them for battle;
    the horses are frenzied in anticipation.
⁵ The chariots charge madly through the streets,
    rushing back and forth through the squares.
They have the appearance of a blazing fire;
    they dash about like lightning bolts.
⁶ His finest troops are summoned
    and rush forward to the attack.
They hasten toward the wall
    and set up the mantelet.
⁷ The river gates are opened
    and the palace trembles.
⁸ The captives are taken into exile
    and its slave girls are carried away,
moaning like doves
    and beating their breasts.
⁹ Nineveh is like a lake
    whose waters are ebbing away.
“Stop! Stop!” goes up the cry,
    but no one turns back.
¹⁰ “Plunder the silver!
    Plunder the gold!
There is no end to the treasure,
    an abundance of wealth
    from precious things of every kind.”
¹¹ Devastation, desolation, and ruin
    confront faint hearts and trembling knees.
The loins of all are filled with anguish;
    every face is drained of color.

¹² Where now is the lions’ den,
    the cave where they fed their whelps,
where the lion and lioness cared for their cubs,
    with no one to disturb them?
¹³ There the lion stored up
    sufficient food for his whelps
    and strangled prey for his mate.
He filled his dens with prey
    and his caves with torn flesh.
¹⁴ “I come against you,”
    says the Lord of hosts.
“I will set your chariots aflame,
    and the sword will devour your young lions.
I will cut off your prey from the earth,
    and the threats of your messengers
    will no longer be heard.”

¹ Woe to the bloodstained city,
    festering with lies,
full of booty,
    never ceasing in its plunder.
² Endless are the crack of the whip
    and the rumbling of wheels,
galloping horses
    and jolting chariots,
³ charging cavalry,
    flashing swords,
shimmering spears,
    endless piles of the slain,
heaps of corpses,
    endless bodies to stumble over.
⁴ Because of the persistent debaucheries of the harlot,
    with her alluring facade as a mistress of sorcery,
who enslaved nations by her harlotries
    and peoples by her witchcraft.
⁵ “I am against you,”
    says the Lord of hosts.
“I will lift up your skirts over your face
    and exhibit your nakedness to the nations,
    your shame to the kingdoms.
⁶ I will pelt you with filth,
    and treat you with contempt,
    and make a spectacle of you.
⁷ Then all those who see you
    will shrink from you and say,
‘Nineveh is destroyed.’
    Who will console her?
    Where can anyone be found to comfort you?”

^8 [al]Are you better than No-amon,
    a city situated among streams
    and surrounded by water,
with the seas serving as her rampart
    and water as her wall?
⁹ Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength,
    and that strength was boundless;
    Put and the Lybians were her allies.
¹⁰ Nevertheless, even she became an exile
    and went into captivity.
Even her infants were dashed to pieces
    at every street corner.
Lots were cast for her nobles,
    and all her leaders were put in chains.
¹¹ You, too, will become drunk
    and go into hiding.
You, too, will flee,
    seeking a refuge from the enemy.

¹² All your fortresses are fig trees
    that bear early fruit.
As soon as they are shaken,
    they fall into the mouth of the eater.
¹³ Look at your troops.
    You are a nation of women.
The gates of your country
    lie open to your enemies;
    fire has consumed the bars of your gates.
¹⁴ Draw yourselves water for the siege!
    Strengthen your fortifications!
Trample the clay,
    tread the mortar,
    repair the brickwork!
¹⁵ Then the fire will consume you
    and the sword will cut you off.
Multiply yourselves like the locusts,
    make yourselves as numerous as the grasshoppers.

¹⁶ You have increased the number of your merchants
    until they now outnumber the stars of the heavens,
but like the locusts, they strip the land
    and then fly away.
¹⁷ Your guards are like locusts,
    and your scribes are like swarms of grasshoppers
that settle in the walls
    on a cold day.
However, when the sun rises, they fly away,
    and no one knows where they have gone.

¹⁸ Alas, your shepherds are asleep,
    O king of Assyria;
    your neighbors lie down to rest.
Your people are scattered on the mountains
    with no one to gather them.
¹⁹ There is no way to relieve your wound;
    your injury is mortal.
All who hear this news about your fate
    clap their hands over your downfall.
For who has not suffered
    as a result of your relentless cruelty?