Study Desk

"All the people allied with you Will send you to the border, And the people at peace with you Will deceive you and overpower you. They who eat your bread Will set an ambush for you. (There is no understanding in him.)

"For just as you drank on My holy mountain, All the nations will drink continually. They will drink to the last drop, And become as if they had never existed.

"Then the house of Jacob will be a fire, And the house of Joseph a flame; But the house of Esau will be like stubble. And they will set them on fire and consume them, So that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau," For the LORD has spoken.

Then those of the Negev will possess the mountain of Esau, And those of the Shephelah the Philistine plain; Also, they will possess the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, And Benjamin the territory of Gilead.

Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried out to his god, and they hurled the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the stern of the ship, had lain down, and fallen sound asleep.

And each man said to his mate, "Come, let's cast lots so that we may find out on whose account this catastrophe has struck us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

Then they said to him, "Tell us, now! On whose account has this catastrophe struck us? What is your occupation, and where do you come from? What is your country, and from what people are you?"

Then the men became extremely afraid, and they said to him, "How could you do this?" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

Then they cried out to the LORD and said, "We earnestly pray, O LORD, do not let us perish on account of this man's life, and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, LORD, have done as You pleased."

So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.

Then the men became extremely afraid of the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.

Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.

And he issued a proclamation, and it said, "In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: No person, animal, herd, or flock is to taste anything. They are not to eat, or drink water.

"But every person and animal must be covered with sackcloth; and people are to call on God vehemently, and they are to turn, each one from his evil way, and from the violence which is in their hands.

All of her idols will be crushed, All of her earnings will be burned with fire, And all of her images I will make desolate; For she collected them from a prostitute's earnings, And to the earnings of a prostitute they will return.

They covet fields, so they seize them; And houses, so they take them. They exploit a man and his house, A person and his inheritance.

"On that day they will take up against you a song of mocking And utter a song of mourning and say, 'We are completely destroyed! He exchanges the share of my people; How He removes it from me! To the apostate He apportions our fields.'

"The one who breaks through goes up before them; They break through, pass through the gate, and go out by it. So their king passes on before them, And the LORD at their head."

The seers will be put to shame, And the diviners will be ashamed. Indeed, they will all cover their lips Because there is no answer from God.

Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe, Her priests teach for pay, And her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD not in our midst? Catastrophe will not come upon us."