Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;
Nineveh is the bloody city, stained by bloodshed and violence. It is full of lies and deception, robbery and plunder. Its prey does not depart, meaning victims are continually carried off and held as prey to its cruelty so that oppression does not cease.
This condition of violence, deceit and plunder belonged to the city at the height of its temporal prosperity, proving that its prosperity concealed deep crime and wickedness. The declaration stands as part of an indictment of evildoers that announces God's opposition to them. It pronounces woe and destruction upon Nineveh. That woe came after God first threatened the city with destruction and then averted it when its inhabitants repented, but they afterward turned back to idolatry until their sins reached to heaven and their destruction came.
Nineveh is the bloody city, stained by bloodshed and violence. It is full of lies and deception, robbery and plunder. Its prey does not depart, meaning victims are continually carried off and held as prey to its cruelty so that oppression does not cease.
This condition of violence, deceit and plunder belonged to the city at the height of its temporal prosperity, proving that its prosperity concealed deep crime and wickedness. The declaration stands as part of an indictment of evildoers that announces God's opposition to them. It pronounces woe and destruction upon Nineveh. That woe came after God first threatened the city with destruction and then averted it when its inhabitants repented, but they afterward turned back to idolatry until their sins reached to heaven and their destruction came.