Should I ¹  not be even more ²  concerned ³  about Nineveh, this enormous city? ⁴  There are more than one hundred twenty thousand people in it who do not know right from wrong, ⁵  as well as many animals!” ⁶ 

This is what the Lord says: ¹  “Even though ²  they are powerful ³  – and what is more, ⁴  even though their army is numerous ⁵  – nevertheless, ⁶  they will be destroyed ⁷  and trickle away! ⁸  Although I afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. ⁹ 

Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s angry judgment. The whole earth ¹  will be consumed by his fiery wrath. ²  Indeed, ³  he will bring terrifying destruction ⁴  on all who live on the earth.” ⁵ 

The Lord your God is in your midst; he is a warrior who can deliver. He takes great delight in you; ¹  he renews you by his love; ²  he shouts for joy over you.” ³ 

Then I spoke up, “Let a clean turban be put on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood nearby.

‘Rather, I will sweep them away in a storm into all the nations they are not familiar with.’ Thus the land had become desolate because of them, with no one crossing through or returning, for they had made the fruitful ¹  land a waste.”

Those who buy them ¹  slaughter them and are not held guilty; those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich.’ Their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

Judah has become disloyal, and unspeakable sins have been committed in Israel and Jerusalem. ¹  For Judah has profaned ²  the holy things that the Lord loves and has turned to a foreign god! ³ 

You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped ¹  by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all? ² 

If you then, although you are evil, ¹  know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts ²  to those who ask him!

“Woe to you, Chorazin! ¹  Woe to you, Bethsaida! If ²  the miracles ³  done in you had been done in Tyre ⁴  and Sidon, ⁵  they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

As Jesus ¹  was having a meal ²  in Levi’s ³  home, many tax collectors ⁴  and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.

He came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? ¹  Enough of that! ²  The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, ¹  he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, ²  he would know who and what kind of woman ³  this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.”

“Woe to you, Chorazin! ¹  Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if ²  the miracles ³  done in you had been done in Tyre ⁴  and Sidon, ⁵  they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

If you then, although you are ¹  evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit ²  to those who ask him!”

The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ¹  ‘God, I thank ²  you that I am not like other people: ³  extortionists, ⁴  unrighteous people, ⁵  adulterers – or even like this tax collector. ⁶ 

“I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  the one who hears ²  my message ³  and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, ⁴  but has crossed over from death to life.

but I declared to those in Damascus first, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, ¹  and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, ²  performing deeds consistent with ³  repentance.

Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know ¹  that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?