¹An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

²A jealous and avenging God is the Lord,
     the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
     and rages against his enemies.
³The Lord is slow to anger but great in power,
     and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.

His way is in whirlwind and storm,
     and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
⁴He rebukes the sea and makes it dry,
     and he dries up all the rivers;
Bashan and Carmel wither,
     and the bloom of Lebanon fades.
⁵The mountains quake before him,
     and the hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
     the world and all who live in it.

⁶Who can stand before his indignation?
     Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
     and by him the rocks are broken in pieces.
⁷The Lord is good,
     a stronghold on a day of trouble;
he protects those who take refuge in him,
⁸     even in a rushing flood.
He will make a full end of his adversaries,
     and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
⁹Why do you plot against the Lord?
     He will make an end;
     no adversary will rise up twice.
¹⁰Like thorns they are entangled,
     like drunkards they are drunk;
     they are consumed like dry straw.
¹¹From you one has gone out
     who plots evil against the Lord,
     one who counsels wickedness.

¹²Thus says the Lord,
"Though they are at full strength and many,
     they will be cut off and pass away.
Though I have afflicted you,
     I will afflict you no more.
¹³And now I will break off his yoke from you
     and snap the bonds that bind you."

¹⁴ The Lord has commanded concerning you:
     "Your name shall be perpetuated no longer;
from the house of your gods I will cut off
     the carved image and the cast image.
I will make your grave, for you are worthless."

¹A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. ²She was pregnant and was crying out in birthpangs, in the agony of giving birth. ³Then another portent appeared in heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. ⁴His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. ⁵And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne; ⁶and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days.

³⁷While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. ³⁸The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. ³⁹Then the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. ⁴⁰You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.

⁴²"But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others. ⁴³Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it."

⁴⁵One of the lawyers answered him, "Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too." ⁴⁶and he said, "Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them. ⁴⁷Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. ⁴⁸So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your ancestors; for they killed them, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,' ⁵⁰so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, ⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation. ⁵²Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering."