Study Desk

The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"

Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.

Then they cried to the LORD , "O LORD , please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD , have done as you pleased."

He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD , and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry.

Now, O LORD , take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."

Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine.

When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."

"Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations.

For her wound is incurable; it has come to Judah. It has reached the very gate of my people, even to Jerusalem itself.

Those who live in Maroth writhe in pain, waiting for relief, because disaster has come from the LORD , even to the gate of Jerusalem.

You who live in Lachish, harness the team to the chariot. You were the beginning of sin to the Daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.

Shave your heads in mourning for the children in whom you delight; make yourselves as bald as the vulture, for they will go from you into exile.

Therefore, the LORD says: "I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.

Get up, go away! For this is not your resting place, because it is defiled, it is ruined, beyond all remedy.

If a liar and deceiver comes and says, 'I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,' he would be just the prophet for this people!

who eat my people's flesh, strip off their skin and break their bones in pieces; who chop them up like meat for the pan, like flesh for the pot?"

This is what the LORD says: "As for the prophets who lead my people astray, if one feeds them, they proclaim 'peace'; if he does not, they prepare to wage war against him.

Therefore night will come over you, without visions, and darkness, without divination. The sun will set for the prophets, and the day will go dark for them.

But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD , and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, to Israel his sin.

Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD and say, "Is not the LORD among us? No disaster will come upon us."