“For the day of the Lord ¹  is approaching ²  for all the nations! ³  Just as you have done, so it will be done to you. You will get exactly what your deeds deserve. ⁴ 

When God saw their actions – they turned ¹  from their evil way of living! ²  – God relented concerning the judgment ³  he had threatened them with ⁴  and he did not destroy them. ⁵ 

But I ¹  am full of the courage that the Lord’s Spirit gives, and have a strong commitment to justice. ²  This enables me to confront Jacob with its rebellion, and Israel with its sin. ³ 

But you will become drunk ¹  with shame, not majesty. ²  Now it is your turn to drink and expose your uncircumcised foreskin! ³  The cup of wine in the Lord’s right hand ⁴  is coming to you, and disgrace will replace your majestic glory!

For you will pay in full for your violent acts against Lebanon; ¹  terrifying judgment will come upon you because of the way you destroyed the wild animals living there. ²  You have shed human blood and committed violent acts against lands, cities, and those who live in them.

On that day,” says the Lord, “a loud cry will go up ¹  from the Fish Gate, ²  wailing from the city’s newer district, ³  and a loud crash ⁴  from the hills.

That day will be a day of God’s anger, ¹  a day of distress and hardship, a day of devastation and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and dark skies,

Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete, ¹  are as good as dead. ²  The Lord has decreed your downfall, ³  Canaan, land of the Philistines: “I will destroy everyone who lives there!” ⁴ 

He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, ¹  so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.” ² 

But when he saw many Pharisees ¹  and Sadducees ²  coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

“Here is ¹  my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I take great delight. ²  I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees, ¹  and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be ²  cut down and thrown into the fire.”

“But woe to you Pharisees! ¹  You give a tenth ²  of your mint, ³  rue, ⁴  and every herb, yet you neglect justice ⁵  and love for God! But you should have done these things without neglecting the others. ⁶ 

I have many things to say and to judge ¹  about you, but the Father ²  who sent me is truthful, ³  and the things I have heard from him I speak to the world.” ⁴ 

The one who rejects me and does not accept ¹  my words has a judge; ²  the word ³  I have spoken will judge him at the last day.

Pilate told them, ¹  “Take him yourselves and pass judgment on him ²  according to your own law!” ³  The Jewish leaders ⁴  replied, ⁵  “We cannot legally put anyone to death.” ⁶ 

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, ¹  God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. ² 

each builder’s ¹  work will be plainly seen, for the Day ²  will make it clear, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire ³  will test what kind of work each has done.

Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, ¹  we try to persuade ²  people, ³  but we are well known ⁴  to God, and I hope we are well known to your consciences too.

So here is my opinion on this matter: It is to your advantage, since you ¹  made a good start last year both in your giving and your desire to give,