Therefore, thus says the Lord about the king of Assyria: He shall not come as far as this city, nor shoot there an arrow, nor confront it with a shield, Nor cast up a siege-work against it.
Then the angel of the Lord went forth and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. Early the next morning, there they were, all those corpses, dead!
If I walk out into the field, look! those slain by the sword; If I enter the city, look! victims of famine. Both prophet and priest ply their trade in a land they do not know.
Thus says the Lord: Those who remain in this city shall die by means of the sword, starvation, and disease; but those who go out to the Chaldeans shall live. Their lives shall be spared them as spoils of war that they may live.
How solitary sits the city, once filled with people. She who was great among the nations is now like a widow. Once a princess among the provinces, now a toiling slave.
“Look, O Lord, and pay attention: to whom have you been so ruthless? Must women eat their own offspring, the very children they have borne? Are priest and prophet to be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
Is this the exultant city that dwelt secure, That told itself, “I and there is no one else”? How it has become a waste, a lair for wild animals! Those who pass by it hiss, and shake their fists!