3
Nineveh will be punished
1 Terrible things will happen to Nineveh,
that city that is full of people who murder [MTY] and lie.
The city is full of things that were seized from other countries by their soldiers;
their armies continually [LIT] have acted brutally towards people whom they conquered.
2 But now listen to the enemy soldiers coming to attack Nineveh;
listen to them cracking their whips,
and listen to the rattle of their chariot wheels!
Listen to their galloping horses
and their chariots as they bounce along!
3 Look at their flashing swords and glittering spears
as the horsemen race forward!
Many people of Nineveh will be killed;
there will be piles of corpses,
with the result that people will stumble over them.
4 All that will happen because Nineveh is like [MET] a beautiful prostitute
who lures men to where they will be ruined;
Nineveh is a beautiful city
which has attracted/enticed people of other nations to come there.
The people of Nineveh taught those people of other nations rituals of magic,
and caused them to become their slaves.
5 So the Commander of the armies of angels says to the people of Nineveh:
“I am your enemy,
and I will cause the people in other nations to see you completely humiliated
like [MET] women who have committed adultery are humiliated by having their skirts lifted high,
with the result that people can see their naked bodies.
6 I will cause rubbish/garbage to be thrown at you;
I will show others that I despise you very much,
and I will cause you to be publicly ridiculed.
7 All those who see you will turn their backs to you and say,
‘Nineveh is ruined,
but absolutely no one [RHQ] will mourn for it.’
No one will regret Nineveh being destroyed!”
The people of Nineveh will not be able to defend themselves
8 Your city is certainly [RHQ] no safer than Thebes city was.
Thebes was an important city beside the Nile River;
the river was like [SIM] a wall that protected the city [DOU].
9 The rulers of Ethiopia and Egypt helped Thebes;
there was no limit to their power.
The governments of the nearby countries of Put and Libya were also allies of Thebes.
10 But Thebes was captured,
and its people were ◄exiled/forced to go to other countries►.
Their babies were dashed to pieces in the streets of the city.
Enemy soldiers ◄cast lots/threw small marked stones► to decide who would get each official in Thebes to become his slave.
All the leaders of Thebes were fastened/tied by chains.
11 You people of Nineveh will similarly become dazed and drunk,
and you will search for places to hide
to escape from your enemies.
12 Your enemies will cause the walls around your city to fall down
like [SIM] the first figs that fall from fig trees each year.
Your city will be captured easily, like [MET] figs that fall into the mouths [HYP] of those who shake the fig trees.
13 Look at your soldiers!
They will be as weak/helpless as [MET] women!
The gates of your city will be opened wide
to allow your enemies to enter them,
and then the bars of those gates will be burned.
14 Store up water now to use when your enemies surround the city!
Repair the forts!
Dig up clay and trample it to make it soft,
and put it into molds to make bricks to repair the walls!
15 Nevertheless, your enemies will burn your city;
they will kill you with their swords;
they will kill you like [SIM] locusts destroy crops.
16 In your city there are now very many merchants;
it seems that there are more of them than there are stars.
But when your city is being destroyed, those merchants will take the valuable things and disappear
like [SIM] locusts that strip the leaves from plants and then fly away.
17 Your leaders are also like a swarm of [SIM] locusts [DOU]
that crowd together on the stone fences/walls on a cold day,
and then fly away when the sun comes up,
and no one knows where they have gone.
18 O King of Assyria, your officials will all be dead [EUP];
your important people will lie down and rest forever.
Your people will be scattered over the mountains,
and there will no one to gather them together.
19 You are like someone who has a wound that cannot be healed;
it will be a wound that causes him to die.
And all those who hear about what has happened to you will clap their hands joyfully.
They will say, “Everyone has [RHQ] suffered because he continually was very cruel to us.”