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