3:9 Cush 1 and Egypt had limitless strength; 2
Put and the Libyans 3 were among 4 her 5 allies. 6
3:10 Yet she went into captivity as an exile; 7
even her infants were smashed to pieces 8 at the head of every street.
They cast lots 9 for her nobility; 10
all her dignitaries were bound with chains.
3:11 You too will act like drunkards; 11
you will go into hiding; 12
you too will seek refuge from the enemy.
3:12 All your fortifications will be like fig trees 13 with first-ripe fruit: 14
If they are shaken, 15 their figs 16 will fall 17 into the mouth of the eater! 18
3:13 Your warriors will be like women in your midst;
the gates of your land will be wide open 19 to your enemies;
fire will consume 20 the bars of your gates. 21
3:14 Draw yourselves water for a siege! 22
Strengthen your fortifications!
Trample the mud 23 and tread the clay!
Make mud bricks to strengthen your walls! 24
3:15 There the fire will consume 25 you;
the sword will cut you down;
it will devour 26 you like the young locust would.
Multiply yourself 27 like the young locust;
multiply yourself like the flying locust!
3:16 Increase 28 your merchants more than the stars of heaven!
They are like 29 the young locust which sheds 30 its skin and flies away.
3:17 Your courtiers 31 are like locusts,
your officials 32 are like a swarm of locusts!
They encamp in the walls on a cold day,
yet when the sun rises, they 33 fly away; 34
and no one knows where they 35 are. 36
3:18 Your shepherds 37 are sleeping, O king of Assyria!
Your officers 38 are slumbering! 39
Your people are scattered like sheep 40 on the mountains
and there is no one to regather them!
3:19 Your destruction is like an incurable wound; 41
your demise is like a fatal injury! 42
All who hear what has happened to you 43 will clap their hands for joy, 44
for no one ever escaped your endless cruelty! 45