Study Desk

The people will wander around the country, from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the north part of the country to the east. They will go back and forth looking for a message from the Lord , but they will not find it.

I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said, "Hit the top of the columns, and shake them to the ground. Push them and they will fall on everyone's head. As for those who survive, I will kill them with a sword. None of them will run away. None of them will escape.

If they are captured and taken away by their enemies, I will command the sword, and it will kill them there. Yes, I will watch over them, but I will watch for ways to give them troubles, not for ways to do good things."

The Lord God All-Powerful will touch the land, and the land will melt. Then all the people who live in the land will cry for the dead. The land will rise and fall like the Nile River in Egypt.

He built his upper rooms above the skies. He put his skies over the earth. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out as rain on the land. Yahweh is his name.

Then the people left alive in Edom, and all the people called by my name, will look to me for help." This is what the Lord said, and he will make it happen.

The Lord says, "A time of great blessing is coming. Workers will still be harvesting when it is time to plow the fields again. They will still be trampling the grapes when it is time for a new crop. Sweet wine will drip from the mountains and pour from the hills.

But the enemy will search hard for Esau's hidden treasures, and they will find them all.

All those who are your friends will force you out of the land. Those who were at peace with you will trick you, and they will defeat you. The soldiers who fought by your side are planning a trap for you. They say, ‘He doesn't expect a thing!'"

But Jonah tried to run away from the Lord . He went to Joppa and found a boat that was going to the faraway city of Tarshish. Jonah paid money for the trip and went on the boat. He wanted to travel with the people on this boat to Tarshish and run away from the Lord .

So the men cried to the Lord , " Lord , please don't say we are guilty of killing an innocent man. Please don't make us die for killing him. We know you are the Lord , and you will do whatever you want."

When Jonah fell into the sea, the Lord chose a very big fish to swallow Jonah. He was in the stomach of the fish for three days and three nights.

"I was in very bad trouble. I called to the Lord for help, and he answered me. I was deep in the grave. I cried to you, and you heard my voice.

Then I thought, ‘Now I must go where you cannot see me,' but I continued looking to your holy Temple for help.

So Jonah obeyed the Lord and went to Nineveh. It was a very large city. A person had to walk for three days to travel through it.

The people of Nineveh believed God. They decided to stop eating for a time to think about their sins. They put on special clothes to show they were sorry. All the people in the city did this, from the most important to the least important.

The king wrote a special message and sent it throughout the city: A command from the king and his great rulers: For a short time no person or animal should eat anything. No herd or flock will be allowed in the fields. Nothing living in Nineveh will eat or drink water.

So now, Lord , just kill me. It is better for me to die than to live."

Then the Lord said, "Do you think it is right for you to be angry?"

Jonah went out of the city to a place near the city on the east side. He made a shelter for himself and sat there in the shade, waiting to see what would happen to the city.