Study Desk

How terrible it will be for you that stretch out on your luxurious couches, feasting on veal and lamb!

Amaziah then said to Amos, "That's enough, prophet! Go on back to Judah and do your preaching there. Let them pay you for it.

Amos answered, "I am not the kind of prophet who prophesies for pay. I am a herdsman, and I take care of fig trees.

The Lord asked, "Amos, what do you see?" "A basket of fruit," I answered. The Lord said to me, "The end has come for my people Israel. I will not change my mind again about punishing them.

You say to yourselves, "We can hardly wait for the holy days to be over so that we can sell our grain. When will the Sabbath end, so that we can start selling again? Then we can overcharge, use false measures, and fix the scales to cheat our customers.

I will turn your festivals into funerals and change your glad songs into cries of grief. I will make you shave your heads and wear sackcloth, and you will be like parents mourning for their only child. That day will be bitter to the end.

"The time is coming when I will send famine on the land. People will be hungry, but not for bread; they will be thirsty, but not for water. They will hunger and thirst for a message from the Lord . I, the Sovereign Lord , have spoken.

People will wander from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean and then on around from the north to the east. They will look everywhere for a message from the Lord , but they will not find it.

If they hide on the top of Mount Carmel, I will search for them and catch them. If they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, I will command the sea monster to bite them.

The Lord builds his home in the heavens, and over the earth he puts the dome of the sky. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the earth. His name is the Lord !

Your allies have deceived you; they have driven you from your country. People who were at peace with you have now conquered you. Those friends who ate with you have laid a trap for you; they say of you, ‘Where is all that cleverness he had?'

The sailors were terrified and cried out for help, each one to his own god. Then, in order to lessen the danger, they threw the cargo overboard. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone below and was lying in the ship's hold, sound asleep.

The captain found him there and said to him, "What are you doing asleep? Get up and pray to your god for help. Maybe he will feel sorry for us and spare our lives."

The sailors said to each other, "Let's draw lots and find out who is to blame for getting us into this danger." They did so, and Jonah's name was drawn.

So they said to him, "Now, then, tell us! Who is to blame for this? What are you doing here? What country do you come from? What is your nationality?"

So they cried out to the Lord , "O Lord , we pray, don't punish us with death for taking this man's life! You, O Lord , are responsible for all this; it is your doing."

At the Lord 's command a large fish swallowed Jonah, and he was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

"In my distress, O Lord , I called to you, and you answered me. From deep in the world of the dead I cried for help, and you heard me.

Jonah went out east of the city and sat down. He made a shelter for himself and sat in its shade, waiting to see what would happen to Nineveh.

The Lord said to him, "This plant grew up in one night and disappeared the next; you didn't do anything for it and you didn't make it grow—yet you feel sorry for it!