“I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, with marshes of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction.” It is a declaration of Adonai-Tzva’ot.
Therefore my body is filled with pain. Pangs have taken hold of me like the pangs of a woman in labor. I am bewildered by what I hear, terrified by what I see.
Ask now, and see whether a man can give birth. Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman giving birth? Why have all faces turned pale?
and say: ‘Adonai, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that nothing will dwell there, neither man nor beast, but that it will be desolate forever.’
Thus says Adonai Elohim: “In the day when he went down to Sheol I caused the deep to mourn and cover itself for him. I restrained his rivers, so the great waters were stopped. I made Lebanon mourn for him. All the trees of the field wilt away for it.
So it will be that all who see you will recoil from you and say, “Nineveh has been ravaged! Who will lament for her?” Where will I find comforters for you?
I have cut off nations. Their towers have become desolate. I have destroyed their streets. with no one passing by. Their cities are laid waste, with no one—none living there.
When we heard about it, our hearts melted, and no spirit remained any more in anyone because of you. For Adonai your God, He is God, in heaven above and on earth beneath.
The men of Ai struck down about 36 of their men, and they chased them from outside the gate as far as Shebarim, striking them down on the slope. So the hearts of the people melted and became like water.