In the womb he attacked his brother; in his manly vigor he struggled with God.

I will avenge their blood which I had not previously acquitted. It is the Lord who dwells in Zion!

Fast runners will find no place to hide; strong men will have no strength left; warriors will not be able to save their lives.

The Israelites turn justice into bitterness; they throw what is fair and right to the ground.

Indeed, look! The Lord is giving the command. He will smash the large house to bits, and the small house into little pieces.

“Go immediately to Nineveh, that large capital city, and announce judgment against its people because their wickedness has come to my attention.”

Water engulfed me up to my neck; the deep ocean surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.

So God sent a worm at dawn the next day, and it attacked the little plant so that it dried up.

yet you hate what is good, and love what is evil. You flay my people’s skin and rip the flesh from their bones.

Many nations have now assembled against you. They say, “Jerusalem must be desecrated, so we can gloat over Zion!”

“In that day,” says the Lord, “I will destroy your horses from your midst, and smash your chariots.

I will angrily seek vengeance on the nations that do not obey me.”

The mountains tremble before him, the hills convulse; the earth is laid waste before him, the world and all its inhabitants are laid waste.

How long, Lord, must I cry for help? But you do not listen! I call out to you, “Violence!” But you do not intervene!

The seacoast will be used as pasture lands by the shepherds and as pens for their flocks.

Her prophets are proud; they are deceitful men. Her priests defile what is holy; they break God’s laws.

This is why the sky has held back its dew and the earth its produce.

Be silent in the Lord’s presence, all people everywhere, for he is being moved to action in his holy dwelling place.

Nevertheless the Lord will evict her and shove her fortifications into the sea – she will be consumed by fire.

But John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”