Nahum 1-3
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
1 An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.(A)
The Consuming Wrath of God
2 A jealous and avenging God is the Lord;
the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
and prolongs it against his enemies.(B)
3 The 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.(C)
4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry,
and he dries up all the rivers;
Bashan and Carmel wither,
and the bloom of Lebanon fades.
5 The mountains quake before him,
and the hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
the world and all who live in it.(D)
6 Who 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.(E)
7 The Lord is good,
a stronghold in 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[a]
and will pursue his enemies into darkness.(F)
9 Why do you plot against the Lord?
He will make an end;
no adversary will rise up twice.(G)
10 Like thorns they are entangled;
like drunkards they are drunk;
they are consumed like dry straw.(H)
11 From you one has gone out
who plots evil against the Lord,
one who counsels wickedness.(I)
Good News for Judah
12 Thus says the Lord:
Though they are at full strength and many,[b]
they will be cut off and pass away.
Though I have afflicted you,
I will afflict you no more.(J)
13 And now I will break off his yoke from you
and snap the bonds that bind you.(K)
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 prepare your grave, for you are worthless.(L)
15 [c]Look! On the mountains the feet of one
who brings good tidings,
who proclaims peace!
Celebrate your festivals, O Judah;
fulfill your vows,
for never again shall the wicked invade you;
they are utterly cut off.(M)
The Destruction of the Wicked City
2 A scatterer has come up against you.
Guard the ramparts;
watch the road;
gird your loins;
collect all your strength.(N)
2 (For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob,
as well as the majesty of Israel,
though ravagers have ravaged them
and ruined their branches.)(O)
3 The shields of his warriors are red;
his soldiers are clothed in crimson.
The metal on the chariots flashes
on the day when he musters them;
the chargers[d] prance.(P)
4 The chariots race madly through the streets;
they rush to and fro through the squares;
their appearance is like torches;
they dart like lightning.(Q)
5 He calls his officers;
they stumble as they come forward;
they hasten to the wall,
and the screen[e] is set up.
6 The river gates are opened;
the palace trembles.
7 It is decreed[f] that the city[g] be exiled,
its slave women led away,
moaning like doves
and beating their breasts.(R)
8 Nineveh is like a pool
whose waters[h] run away.
“Halt! Halt!”—
but no one turns back.(S)
9 “Plunder the silver;
plunder the gold!
There is no end of treasure!
An abundance of every precious thing!”
10 Devastation, desolation, and destruction!
Hearts faint and knees tremble;
all loins quake;
all faces grow pale!(T)
11 What became of the lions’ den,
the cave of the young lions,
where the lion goes,
and the lion’s cubs, with no one to disturb them?(U)
12 The lion has torn enough for his whelps
and strangled prey for his lionesses;
he has filled his caves with prey
and his dens with torn flesh.(V)
13 See, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your[i] chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more.(W)
Ruin Imminent and Inevitable
3 Woe, city of bloodshed,
utterly deceitful, full of plunder—
no end to the prey!(X)
2 The crack of whip and rumble of wheel,
galloping horse and bounding chariot!(Y)
3 Horsemen charging,
flashing sword and glittering spear,
piles of dead,
heaps of corpses,
dead bodies without end—
they stumble over the bodies!(Z)
4 Because of the countless debaucheries of the prostitute,
gracefully alluring, mistress of sorcery,
who enslaves[j] nations through her debaucheries
and peoples through her sorcery,(AA)
5 I am against you,
says the Lord of hosts,
and will lift up your skirts over your face,
and I will let nations look on your nakedness
and kingdoms on your shame.(AB)
6 I will throw filth at you
and treat you with contempt
and make you a spectacle.(AC)
7 Then all who see you will shrink from you and say,
“Nineveh is devastated; who will bemoan her?”
Where shall I seek comforters for you?(AD)
8 Are you better than Thebes[k]
that sat by the Nile,
with water around her,
her rampart a sea,
water her wall?(AE)
9 Cush was her strength,
Egypt, too, and that without limit;
Put and the Libyans were her[l] helpers.(AF)
10 Yet she became an exile;
she went into captivity;
even her infants were dashed in pieces
at the head of every street;
lots were cast for her nobles;
all her dignitaries were bound in fetters.(AG)
11 You also will be drunken;
you will go into hiding;[m]
you will seek
a refuge from the enemy.(AH)
12 All your fortresses are like fig trees
with first-ripe figs—
if shaken they fall
into the mouth of the eater.(AI)
13 Look at your troops:
they are women in your midst.
The gates of your land
are wide open to your foes;
fire has devoured the bars of your gates.(AJ)
14 Draw water for the siege;
strengthen your forts;
trample the clay;
tread the mortar;
take hold of the brick mold!
15 There the fire will devour you;
the sword will cut you off.
It will devour you like the locust.
Multiply yourselves like the locust;
multiply like the grasshopper!(AK)
16 You increased your merchants
more than the stars of the heavens.
The locust sheds its skin and flies away.
17 Your guards are like grasshoppers,
your scribes like swarms[n] of locusts
settling on the fences
on a cold day—
when the sun rises, they fly away;
no one knows where they have gone.
18 Your shepherds are asleep,
O king of Assyria;
your nobles slumber.
Your people are scattered on the mountains
with no one to gather them.(AL)
19 There is no assuaging your hurt;
your wound is mortal.
All who hear the news about you
clap their hands over you.
For who has ever escaped
your endless cruelty?(AM)
Footnotes
- 1.8 Gk: Heb of her place
- 1.12 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 1.15 2.1 in Heb
- 2.3 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Heb cypresses
- 2.5 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 2.7 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 2.7 Heb it
- 2.8 Cn Compare Gk: Heb a pool, from the days that she has become, and they
- 2.13 Heb her
- 3.4 Heb sells
- 3.8 Or No-amon
- 3.9 Gk Syr: Heb your
- 3.11 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 3.17 Meaning of Heb uncertain
Proverbs 27
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
27 Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.(A)
2 Let another praise you and not your own mouth,
a stranger and not your own lips.(B)
3 A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty,
but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.(C)
4 Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming,
but who is able to stand before jealousy?
5 Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.(D)
6 Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts,
but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
7 The sated appetite spurns honey,
but to a ravenous appetite even the bitter is sweet.(E)
8 Like a bird that strays from its nest
is one who strays from home.
9 Perfume and incense make the heart glad,
but the soul is torn by trouble.[a]
10 Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your parent;
do not go to the house of your kindred in the day of your calamity.
Better is a neighbor who is nearby
than kindred who are far away.(F)
11 Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad,
so that I may answer whoever reproaches me.(G)
12 The clever see danger and hide,
but the simple go on and suffer for it.(H)
13 Take the garment of one who has given surety for a stranger;
seize the pledge given as surety for foreigners.[b](I)
14 Whoever blesses a neighbor with a loud voice,
rising early in the morning,
will be counted as cursing.
15 A continual dripping on a rainy day
and a contentious wife are alike;(J)
16 to restrain her is to restrain the wind
or to grasp oil in the right hand.[c]
17 Iron sharpens iron,
and one person sharpens the wits[d] of another.
18 Anyone who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,
and anyone who takes care of a master will be honored.(K)
19 Just as water reflects the face,
so one human heart reflects another.
20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,
and human eyes are never satisfied.(L)
21 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
so a person is tested[e] by being praised.(M)
22 Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle
along with crushed grain,
but the folly will not be driven out.(N)
23 Know well the condition of your flocks,
and give attention to your herds,
24 for riches do not last forever,
nor a crown for all generations.(O)
25 When the grass is gone, and new growth appears,
and the herbage of the mountains is gathered,(P)
26 the lambs will provide your clothing,
and the goats the price of a field;
27 there will be enough goats’ milk for your food,
for the food of your household
and nourishment for your female servants.
Matthew 16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Demand for a Sign
16 The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test Jesus[a] they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.(A) 2 He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 3 And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.[b] 4 An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.(B)
The Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees
5 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 Jesus said to them, “Watch out, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”(C) 7 They said to one another, “It is because we have brought no bread.” 8 And becoming aware of it, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you talking about having no bread?(D) 9 Do you still not perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand and how many baskets you gathered?(E) 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many baskets you gathered?(F) 11 How could you fail to perceive that I was not speaking about bread? Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!” 12 Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the yeast of bread but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Peter’s Declaration about Jesus
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist but others Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”(G) 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,[c] the Son of the living God.”(H) 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.(I) 18 And I tell you, you are Peter,[d] and on this rock[e] I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.(J) 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”(K) 20 Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was[f] the Messiah.[g](L)
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
21 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.(M) 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance[h] to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
The Cross and Self-Denial
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.(N) 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
27 “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done.(O) 28 Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”(P)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.