12 Thus says the Lord,
“Though they are at full strength and many,
cthey will be cut down and pass away.
dThough I have afflicted you,
I will afflict you no more.
8 bNineveh is like a pool
whose waters run away.1
“Halt! Halt!” they cry,
but cnone turns back.
13 mBehold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and nI will burn your1 chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and othe voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.
16 You increased xyour merchants
more than the stars of the heavens.
wThe locust spreads its wings and flies away.
17 Your zprinces are wlike grasshoppers,
ayour scribes1 like clouds of locusts
settling on the fences
in a day of cold—
when the sun rises, they fly away;
no one knows where they are.
