16. Your traders are more than the stars in the sky,but like locusts, they strip the land and then fly away.
17. Your guards are like locusts.Your officers are like swarms of locuststhat hang on the walls on a cold day.When the sun comes up, they fly away,and no one knows where they have gone.
18. King of Assyria, your rulers are asleep;your important men lie down to rest.Your people have been scattered on the mountains,and there is no one to bring them back.
19. Nothing can heal your wound;your injury will not heal.Everyone who hears about you applauds,because everyone has felt your endless cruelty.