Study Desk

So those who are smart keep their mouths shut, for it is an evil time.

Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the Lord God of Heaven's Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed.

So I will send you into exile, to a land east of Damascus," says the Lord , whose name is the God of Heaven's Armies.

In my vision the locusts ate every green plant in sight. Then I said, "O Sovereign Lord , please forgive us or we will not survive, for Israel is so small."

So the Lord relented from this plan. "I will not do it," he said.

Then I said, "O Sovereign Lord , please stop or we will not survive, for Israel is so small."

You can't wait for the Sabbath day to be over and the religious festivals to end so you can get back to cheating the helpless. You measure out grain with dishonest measures and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales.

Then I saw a vision of the Lord standing beside the altar. He said, "Strike the tops of the Temple columns, so that the foundation will shake. Bring down the roof on the heads of the people below. I will kill with the sword those who survive. No one will escape!

"The day is near when I, the Lord , will judge all godless nations! As you have done to Israel, so it will be done to you. All your evil deeds will fall back on your own heads.

Just as you swallowed up my people on my holy mountain, so you and the surrounding nations will swallow the punishment I pour out on you. Yes, all you nations will drink and stagger and disappear from history.

So the captain went down after him. "How can you sleep at a time like this?" he shouted. "Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives."

This time Jonah obeyed the Lord 's command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all.

So he complained to the Lord about it: "Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord ? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people.

But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away.

"So I, the Lord , will make the city of Samaria a heap of ruins. Her streets will be plowed up for planting vineyards. I will roll the stones of her walls into the valley below, exposing her foundations.

What sorrow awaits you who lie awake at night, thinking up evil plans. You rise at dawn and hurry to carry them out, simply because you have the power to do so.

"Rise up and crush the nations, O Jerusalem!" says the Lord . "For I will give you iron horns and bronze hooves, so you can trample many nations to pieces. You will present their stolen riches to the Lord , their wealth to the Lord of all the earth."

I will destroy all your idols and sacred pillars, so you will never again worship the work of your own hands.

The rich among you have become wealthy through extortion and violence. Your citizens are so used to lying that their tongues can no longer tell the truth.

Then my enemies will see that the Lord is on my side. They will be ashamed that they taunted me, saying, "So where is the Lord — that God of yours?" With my own eyes I will see their downfall; they will be trampled like mud in the streets.