Then a hand touched me and set me on my hands and knees.

Blessed is the one who waits and attains to the 1,335 days.

Ephraim will be like a bird; what they value will fly away. They will not bear children – they will not enjoy pregnancy – they will not even conceive!

But you must return to your God, by maintaining love and justice, and by waiting for your God to return to you.

I thought I had been banished from your sight, that I would never again see your holy temple!

“Go immediately to Nineveh, that large city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.”

It will be a day for rebuilding your walls; in that day your boundary will be extended.

Whatever you plot against the Lord, he will completely destroy! Distress will not arise a second time.

Cush and Egypt had limitless strength; Put and the Libyans were among her allies.

They mock kings and laugh at rulers. They laugh at every fortified city; they build siege ramps and capture them.

Your schemes will bring shame to your house. Because you destroyed many nations, you will self-destruct.

Her princes are as fierce as roaring lions; her rulers are as hungry as wolves in the desert, who completely devour their prey by morning.

This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled:

When King Herod heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him.

Then Herod privately summoned the wise men and determined from them when the star had appeared.

Let your word be ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no.’ More than this is from the evil one.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’

Give to the one who asks you, and do not reject the one who wants to borrow from you.

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.