The oracle concerning the beasts of the Negev. Through a land of distress and anguish, From where come lioness and lion, viper and flying fiery serpent, They carry their wealth on the backs of young donkeys And their treasures on camels’ humps, To a people who cannot profit them;
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
And the natives showed us extraordinary affection; for because of the rain that had set in and because of the cold, they kindled a fire and received us all.
And when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, “Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”
Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, in beatings without number, in frequent danger of death.