7. Everyone who sees you will be shocked. They will say, ‘Nineveh is destroyed. Who will cry for her?’ I know I cannot find anyone to comfort you, Nineveh.”
8. Nineveh, are you better than Thebes on the Nile River? Thebes also had water all around her to protect herself from enemies. She used that water like a wall too.
9. Ethiopia and Egypt made Thebes strong. Libya and the Sudan supported her,
10. but Thebes was defeated. Her people were taken away as prisoners to a foreign country. Soldiers beat her small children to death at every street corner. They threw lots to see who got to keep the important people as slaves. They put chains on all the important men of Thebes.
11. So, Nineveh, you will also fall like a drunk. You will try to hide. You will look for a safe place away from the enemy.
12. But Nineveh, all your strong places will be like fig trees. When new figs become ripe, people come and shake the tree. The figs fall into their mouths. They eat them, and the figs are gone.
13. Nineveh, your people are all like women—and the enemy soldiers are ready to take them. The gates of your land are open wide for your enemies to come in. Fire has destroyed the wooden bars across the gates.
14. Get water and store it inside your city, because the enemy soldiers will surround your city. Make your defenses strong! Get clay to make more bricks and mix the mortar. Get the molds for making bricks.