8Are you better than No-amon*d

that was set among the Nile’s canals,

Surrounded by waters,

with the river for her rampart

and water for her wall?

9Ethiopia was her strength,

and Egypt without end;

Put* and the Libyans

were her allies.

10Yet even she became an exile,

and went into captivity;

Even her little ones were dashed to pieces

at the corner of every street;

For her nobles they cast lots,

and all her great ones were put into chains.

11You, too, will drink of this;

you will be overcome;e

You, too, will seek

a refuge from the foe.

12But all your fortresses are fig trees,

bearing early figs;*

When shaken, they fall

into the devourer’s mouth.

13Indeed your troops

are women in your midst;

To your foes are open wide

the gates of your land,

fire has consumed their bars.

14Draw water for the siege,*

strengthen your fortresses;

Go down into the mud

and tread the clay,

take hold of the brick mold!

15There the fire will consume you,

the sword will cut you down;

it will consume you like the grasshoppers.

Multiply like the grasshoppers,

multiply like the locusts!f

16You have made your traders* more numerous

than the stars of the heavens;

like grasshoppers that shed their skins and fly away.

17Your sentries are like locusts,

and your scribes like locust swarms

Gathered on the rubble fences

on a cold day!

Yet when the sun rises, they vanish,

and no one knows where they have gone.

18Your shepherds slumber,

O king of Assyria,

your nobles have gone to rest;

Your people are scattered upon the mountains,

with none to gather them.

19There is no healing for your hurt,

your wound is fatal.

All who hear this news of you

clap their hands over you;

For who has not suffered

under your endless malice?