Study Desk

"So [the people of] two or three cities would stagger into one city to drink water, But would not be satisfied; Yet you have not returned to Me [in repentance]," says the LORD.

For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel, "Seek Me [search diligently for Me and regard Me as more essential than food] so that you may live.

"Seek the LORD [search diligently for Him and long for Him as your most essential need] so that you may live, Or He will rush down like a [devouring] fire, O house of Joseph, And there will be no one to quench the flame for [idolatrous] Bethel,

It is He who causes [sudden] destruction to flash forth on the strong So that destruction comes on the fortress.

Seek (long for, require) good and not evil, that you may live; And so may the LORD God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said!

It is as if a man runs from a lion [escaping one danger] And a bear meets him [so he dies anyway], Or goes home, and leans with his hand against the wall And a snake bites him.

And when the locusts had finished eating the plants of the land, then I said, "O Lord GOD, please forgive! How can Jacob stand, For he is so small [that he cannot endure this]?"

Then I said, "O Lord GOD, please stop! How can Jacob stand, For he is so small [that he cannot endure this]?"

saying, "When will the New Moon [festival] be over So that we may sell grain, And the Sabbath ended so that we may open the wheat market, Making the ephah [measure] smaller and the shekel bigger [that is, selling less for a higher price] And to cheat by falsifying the scales,

So that we may buy the poor [as slaves] for silver [since they are unable to support themselves] And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the leftovers of the wheat [as if it were a good grade of grain]?"

I saw [in a vision] the Lord standing at the altar, and He said, "Destroy the capitals (tops) of the pillars so that the thresholds will shake, And break them on the heads of all of the people! Then I will kill the rest of them with the sword; They will not have a fugitive who will get away, Or a survivor who will escape.

"And your mighty men shall be dismayed and demoralized, O Teman, So that everyone from the mountain of Esau may be cut off in the slaughter.

"Because just as you [Edom] drank on My holy mountain [desecrating it in the revelry of the destroyers], So shall all the nations drink continually [one by one, of My wrath]; Yes, they shall drink and swallow [the full measure of punishment] And become as though they had never existed.

"Then the house of Jacob shall be a fire And the house of Joseph a flame [in executing God's wrath]; But the house of Esau will be like stubble. They (Jacob) shall set them on fire and consume them (the Edomites), So that there shall be no survivor of the house of Esau," For the LORD has spoken.

But Jonah ran away to Tarshish to escape from the presence of the LORD [and his duty as His prophet]. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish [the most remote of the Phoenician trading cities]. So he paid the fare and went down into the ship to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the LORD.

But the LORD hurled a great wind toward the sea, and there was a violent tempest on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.

So the captain came up to him and said, "How can you stay asleep? Get up! Call on your god! Perhaps your god will give a thought to us so that we will not perish."

And they said to another, "Come, let us cast lots, so we may learn who is to blame for this disaster." So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.

So he said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I [reverently] fear and worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land."

Then they said to him, "What should we do to you, so that the sea will become calm for us?"—for the sea was becoming more and more violent.