Study Desk

Seek good and not evil, so that you will survive. Then Adonai Elohei -Tzva'ot will be with you, as you say he is.

You say, "When will Rosh-Hodesh be over, so we can market our grain? and Shabbat, so we can sell wheat?" You measure the grain in a small eifah, but the silver in heavy shekels, fixing the scales, so that you can cheat,

so that Isra'el can possess what is left of Edom and of all the nations bearing my name," says Adonai , who is doing this.

They asked him, "What should we do to you, so that the sea will be calm for us?" — for the sea was getting rougher all the time.

The word of Adonai came to Yonah the son of Amitai: "Set out for the great city of Ninveh, and proclaim to it that their wickedness has come to my attention." But Yonah, in order to get away from Adonai , prepared to escape to Tarshish. He went down to Yafo, found a ship headed for Tarshish, paid the fare and went aboard, intending to travel with them to Tarshish and get away from Adonai . However, Adonai let loose over the sea a violent wind, which created such stormy conditions that the ship threatened to break to pieces. The sailors were frightened, and each cried out to his god. They threw the cargo overboard to make the ship easier for them to control. Meanwhile, Yonah had gone down below into the hold, where he lay, fast asleep. The ship's captain found him and said to him, "What do you mean by sleeping? Get up! Call on your god! Maybe the god will remember us, and we won't die." Then they said to each other, "Come, let's draw lots to find out who is to blame for this calamity." They drew lots, and Yonah was singled out. They said to him, "Tell us now, why has this calamity come upon us? What work do you do? Where are you from? What is your country? Which is your people?" He answered them, "I am a Hebrew; and I fear Adonai , the God of heaven, who made both the sea and the dry land." At this the men grew very afraid and said to him, "What is this that you have done?" For the men knew he was trying to get away from Adonai , since he had told them. They asked him, "What should we do to you, so that the sea will be calm for us?" — for the sea was getting rougher all the time. "Pick me up," he told them, "and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you; because I know it's my fault that this terrible storm has come over you." Nevertheless, the men rowed hard, trying to reach the shore. But they couldn't, because the sea kept growing wilder against them. Finally they cried to Adonai , "Please, Adonai , please! Don't let us perish for causing the death of this man, and don't hold us to account for shedding innocent blood; because you, Adonai , have done what you saw fit." Then they picked up Yonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging. Seized with great fear of Adonai , they offered a sacrifice to Adonai and made vows.

But at dawn the next day God prepared a worm, which attacked the castor-bean plant, so that it dried up.

But lately my people behave like an enemy, stripping both cloaks and tunics from travelers who thought they were secure, so that they become like war refugees.

My people, just remember what Balak the king of Mo'av had planned, what Bil‘am the son of B‘or answered him, [and what happened] between Sheetim and Gilgal — so that you will understand the saving deeds of Adonai ."

Why do you make me see wrongdoing, why do you permit oppression? Pillage and cruelty confront me, so that strife and discord prevail.

Then Adonai answered me; he said, "Write down the vision clearly on tablets, so that even a runner can read it.

so that people toil for what will be burned up, and nations exhaust themselves to no purpose. Isn't all this from Adonai -Tzva'ot?

I said, ‘Surely now you will fear me, you will receive correction'; so that her place will not be cut off by all the punishments I brought on her. But no, they only grew all the more eager to be corrupt in all that they do.

For then I will change the peoples, so that they will have pure lips, to call on the name of Adonai , all of them, and serve him with one accord.

This is why the sky above you has withheld the dew, so that there is none, and the land withholds its yield.

Adonai roused the spirit of Z'rubavel the son of Sh'alti'el, governor of Y'hudah, and the spirit of Y'hoshua the son of Y'hotzadak, the cohen hagadol, and the spirits of all the rest of the people; so that they came and began to work on the house of Adonai -Tzva'ot their God.

and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasures of all the nations will flow in; and I will fill this house with glory," says Adonai -Tzva'ot.

Hagai then said, "‘That is the condition of this people, that is the condition of this nation before me,' says Adonai , ‘and that is the condition of everything their hands produce; so that anything they offer there is unclean.

But they wouldn't listen, they stubbornly turned their shoulder away and stopped up their ears, so that they wouldn't have to hear it.

Yes, they made their hearts as hard as a diamond, so that they wouldn't hear the Torah and the messages that Adonai -Tzva'ot had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. This is why great anger came from Adonai -Tzva'ot;

but with the power of a whirlwind I will disperse them among all the nations which they have not known.' Thus the land was left desolate after them, so that no one came or went. They had turned a pleasant land into a desert."