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This is a message about Nineveh, the account of a vision seen by Nahum, who was from Elkosh.
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The LORD God tolerates no rivals; he punishes those who oppose him. In his anger he pays them back.
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The LORD does not easily become angry, but he is powerful and never lets the guilty go unpunished. Where the LORD walks, storms arise; the clouds are the dust raised by his feet!
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He commands the sea, and it dries up! He makes the rivers go dry. The fields of Bashan wither, Mount Carmel turns brown, and the flowers of Lebanon fade.
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Mountains quake in the presence of the LORD; hills melt before him. The earth shakes when the LORD appears; the world and all its people tremble.
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When he is angry, who can survive? Who can survive his terrible fury? He pours out his flaming anger; rocks crumble to dust before him.
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The LORD is good; he protects his people in times of trouble; he takes care of those who turn to him.
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Like a great rushing flood he completely destroys his enemies; he sends to their death those who oppose him.
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What are you plotting against the LORD? He will destroy you. No one opposes him more than once.
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Like tangled thorns and dry straw you drunkards will be burned up!
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From you, Nineveh, there came someone full of wicked schemes, who plotted against the LORD.
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This is what the LORD says to his people Israel: "Even though the Assyrians are strong and numerous, they will be destroyed and disappear. My people, I made you suffer, but I will not do it again.
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I will now end Assyria's power over you and break the chains that bind you."
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This is what the LORD has decreed about the Assyrians: "They will have no descendants to carry on their name. I will destroy the idols that are in the temples of their gods. I am preparing a grave for the Assyrians---they don't deserve to live!"
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Look, a messenger is coming over the mountains with good news! He is on his way to announce the victory! People of Judah, celebrate your festivals and give God what you solemnly promised him. The wicked will never invade your land again. They have been totally destroyed!
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Nineveh, you are under attack! The power that will shatter you has come. Prepare the defenses! Guard the road! Prepare for battle!
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(The LORD is about to restore the glory of Israel, as it was before her enemies plundered her.)
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The enemy soldiers carry red shields and wear uniforms of red. They are preparing to attack! Their chariots flash like fire! Their horses prance!
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Chariots dash wildly through the streets, rushing back and forth in the city squares. They flash like torches and dart about like lightning.
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The officers are summoned; they stumble as they press forward. The attackers rush to the wall and set up the shield for the battering ram.
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The gates by the river burst open; the palace is filled with terror.
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The queen is taken captive; her servants moan like doves and beat their breasts in sorrow.
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Like water from a broken dam the people rush from Nineveh! "Stop! Stop!" the cry rings out--- but no one turns back.
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Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The city is full of treasure!
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Nineveh is destroyed, deserted, desolate! Hearts melt with fear; knees tremble, strength is gone; faces grow pale.
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Where now is the city that was like a den of lions, the place where young lions were fed, where the lion and the lioness would go and their cubs would be safe?
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The lion killed his prey and tore it to pieces for his mate and her cubs; he filled his den with torn flesh.
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"I am your enemy!" says the LORD Almighty. "I will burn up your chariots. Your soldiers will be killed in war, and I will take away everything that you took from others. The demands of your envoys will no longer be heard."
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Doomed is the lying, murderous city, full of wealth to be looted and plundered!
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Listen! The crack of the whip, the rattle of wheels, the gallop of horses, the jolting of chariots!
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Cavalry troops charge, swords flash, spears gleam! Corpses are piled high, dead bodies without number--- men stumble over them!
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Nineveh the whore is being punished. Attractive and full of deadly charms, she enchanted nations and enslaved them.
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The LORD Almighty says, "I will punish you, Nineveh! I will strip you naked and let the nations see you, see you in all your shame.
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I will treat you with contempt and cover you with filth. People will stare at you in horror.
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All who see you will shrink back. They will say, 'Nineveh lies in ruins! Who has any sympathy for her? Who will want to comfort her?' "
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Nineveh, are you any better than Thebes, the capital of Egypt? She too had a river to protect her like a wall---the Nile was her defense.
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She ruled Ethiopia and Egypt, there was no limit to her power; Libya was her ally.
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Yet the people of Thebes were carried off into exile. At every street corner their children were beaten to death. Their leading men were carried off in chains and divided among their captors.
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Nineveh, you too will fall into a drunken stupor! You too will try to escape from your enemies.
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All your fortresses will be like fig trees with ripe figs: shake the trees, and the fruit falls right into your mouth!
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Your soldiers are helpless, and your country stands defenseless before your enemies. Fire will destroy the bars across your gates.
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Draw water to prepare for a siege, and strengthen your fortresses! Trample the clay to make bricks, and get the brick molds ready!
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No matter what you do, you will still be burned to death or killed in battle. You will be wiped out like crops eaten up by locusts. You multiplied like locusts!
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You produced more merchants than there are stars in the sky! But now they are gone, like locusts that spread their wings and fly away.
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Your officials are like a swarm of locusts that stay in the walls on a cold day. But when the sun comes out, they fly away, and no one knows where they have gone!
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Emperor of Assyria, your governors are dead, and your noblemen are asleep forever! Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to bring them home again.
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There is no remedy for your injuries, and your wounds cannot be healed. All those who hear the news of your destruction clap their hands for joy. Did anyone escape your endless cruelty?
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After this, Jesus went to Jerusalem for a religious festival.
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Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool with five porches; in Hebrew it is called Bethzatha.
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A large crowd of sick people were lying on the porches---the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed.
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A man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
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Jesus saw him lying there, and he knew that the man had been sick for such a long time; so he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
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The sick man answered, "Sir, I don't have anyone here to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am trying to get in, somebody else gets there first."
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Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your mat, and walk."
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Immediately the man got well; he picked up his mat and started walking. The day this happened was a Sabbath,
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so the Jewish authorities told the man who had been healed, "This is a Sabbath, and it is against our Law for you to carry your mat."
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He answered, "The man who made me well told me to pick up my mat and walk."
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They asked him, "Who is the man who told you to do this?"
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But the man who had been healed did not know who Jesus was, for there was a crowd in that place, and Jesus had slipped away.
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Afterward, Jesus found him in the Temple and said, "Listen, you are well now; so stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."
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Then the man left and told the Jewish authorities that it was Jesus who had healed him.
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So they began to persecute Jesus, because he had done this healing on a Sabbath.
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Jesus answered them, "My Father is always working, and I too must work."
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This saying made the Jewish authorities all the more determined to kill him; not only had he broken the Sabbath law, but he had said that God was his own Father and in this way had made himself equal with God.
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So Jesus answered them, "I tell you the truth: the Son can do nothing on his own; he does only what he sees his Father doing. What the Father does, the Son also does.
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For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. He will show him even greater things to do than this, and you will all be amazed.
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Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, in the same way the Son gives life to those he wants to.
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Nor does the Father himself judge anyone. He has given his Son the full right to judge,
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so that all will honor the Son in the same way as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
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"I am telling you the truth: those who hear my words and believe in him who sent me have eternal life. They will not be judged, but have already passed from death to life.
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I am telling you the truth: the time is coming---the time has already come---when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear it will come to life.
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Just as the Father is himself the source of life, in the same way he has made his Son to be the source of life.
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And he has given the Son the right to judge, because he is the Son of Man.
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Do not be surprised at this; the time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice
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and come out of their graves: those who have done good will rise and live, and those who have done evil will rise and be condemned.
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"I can do nothing on my own authority; I judge only as God tells me, so my judgment is right, because I am not trying to do what I want, but only what he who sent me wants.
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"If I testify on my own behalf, what I say is not to be accepted as real proof.
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But there is someone else who testifies on my behalf, and I know that what he says about me is true.
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John is the one to whom you sent your messengers, and he spoke on behalf of the truth.
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It is not that I must have a human witness; I say this only in order that you may be saved.
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John was like a lamp, burning and shining, and you were willing for a while to enjoy his light.
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But I have a witness on my behalf which is even greater than the witness that John gave: what I do, that is, the deeds my Father gave me to do, these speak on my behalf and show that the Father has sent me.
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And the Father, who sent me, also testifies on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his face,
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and you do not keep his message in your hearts, for you do not believe in the one whom he sent.
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You study the Scriptures, because you think that in them you will find eternal life. And these very Scriptures speak about me!
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Yet you are not willing to come to me in order to have life.
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"I am not looking for human praise.
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But I know what kind of people you are, and I know that you have no love for God in your hearts.
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I have come with my Father's authority, but you have not received me; when, however, someone comes with his own authority, you will receive him.
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You like to receive praise from one another, but you do not try to win praise from the one who alone is God; how, then, can you believe me?
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Do not think, however, that I am the one who will accuse you to my Father. Moses, in whom you have put your hope, is the very one who will accuse you.
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If you had really believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me.
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But since you do not believe what he wrote, how can you believe what I say?"
