The Destruction of Nineveh
1 The scatterer has come up against you.
Man the ramparts;
watch the road;
dress for battle;1
collect all your strength.
2 For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob
as the majesty of Israel,
for plunderers have plundered them
and ruined their branches.
3 The shield of his mighty men is red;
rhis soldiers are clothed in scarlet.
The chariots come with flashing metal
on the day he musters them;
the cypress spears are brandished.
4 The chariots race madly through the streets;
they rush to and fro through the squares;
they gleam like torches;
they dart like lightning.
5 He remembers his officers;
they stumble as they go,
they hasten to the wall;
the siege tower2 is set up.
6 The river sgates are opened;
the palace melts away;
7 its mistress3 is stripped;4 she is carried off,
her slave girls lamenting,
moaning tlike doves
and beating their breasts.
8 Nineveh is like a pool
whose waters run away.5
“Halt! Halt!” they cry,
but none turns back.
9 Plunder the silver,
plunder the gold!
There is no end of the treasure
or of the wealth of all precious things.
10 Desolate! Desolation and ruin!
uHearts melt and knees tremble;
anguish is in all loins;
vall faces grow pale!
11 Where is the lions’ den,
the feeding place of the young lions,
where the lion and lioness went,
where his cubs were, with none to disturb?
12 The lion tore enough for his cubs
and strangled prey for his lionesses;
he filled his caves with prey
and his dens with torn flesh.
13 wBehold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your6 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 no longer be heard.
The Harvest Is Plentiful, the Laborers Few
35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and pproclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had qcompassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like rsheep swithout a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, t“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
The Twelve Apostles
1 uAnd he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them vauthority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. 2 The names of the wtwelve apostles are these: first, xSimon, who is called Peter, and yAndrew his brother; zJames the son of Zebedee, and aJohn his brother; 3 bPhilip and cBartholomew; dThomas and eMatthew the tax collector; fJames the son of Alphaeus, and gThaddaeus;1 4 hSimon the Zealot,2 and iJudas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles
5 jThese twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere kamong the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the llost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And mproclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is nat hand.’3 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers,4 cast out demons. You received owithout paying; give pwithout pay. 9 Acquire qno gold or silver or copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics5 or sandals or a staff, for rthe laborer deserves his food. 11 And swhatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 And if the house is worthy, let your tpeace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, ushake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be vmore bearable on the day of judgment for wthe land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
Persecution Will Come
16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of xwolves, so be ywise as serpents and zinnocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their asynagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before bgovernors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the cSpirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 dBrother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. eBut the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they fpersecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
