Study Desk

Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish:

Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, “In forty days Nineveh will be demolished!”

When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

Furthermore, both people and animals must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from his wrongdoing.

Who knows? God may turn and relent; he may turn from his burning anger so that we will not perish.

Then the Lord God appointed a plant, and it grew over Jonah to provide shade for his head to rescue him from his trouble. Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant.

Listen, all you peoples;pay attention, earth and everyone in it!The Lord God will be a witness against you,the Lord, from his holy temple.

Look, the Lord is leaving his placeand coming down to tramplethe heights of the earth.

They covet fields and seize them;they also take houses.They deprive a man of his home,a person of his inheritance.

Then they will cry out to the Lord,but he will not answer them.He will hide his face from them at that timebecause of the crimes they have committed.

As for me, however, I am filled with powerby the Spirit of the Lord,with justice and courage,to proclaim to Jacob his rebellionand to Israel his sin.

and many nations will come and say,“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,to the house of the God of Jacob.He will teach us about his waysso we may walk in his paths.”For instruction will go out of Zionand the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

But each person will sit under his grapevineand under his fig treewith no one to frighten him.For the mouth of the Lord of Armieshas spoken.

But they do not know the Lord’s intentionsor understand his plan,that he has gathered themlike sheaves to the threshing floor.

He will stand and shepherd themin the strength of the Lord,in the majestic name of the Lord his God.They will live securely,for then his greatness will extendto the ends of the earth.

Listen to the Lord’s lawsuit,you mountains and enduring foundations of the earth,because the Lord has a case against his people,and he will argue it against Israel.

Both hands are good at accomplishing evil:the official and the judge demand a bribe;when the powerful man communicates his evil desire,they plot it together.

Surely a son considers his father a fool,a daughter opposes her mother,and a daughter-in-law is against her mother-in-law;a man’s enemies are the men of his own household.

Because I have sinned against him,I must endure the Lord’s rageuntil he champions my causeand establishes justice for me.He will bring me into the light;I will see his salvation.

Who is a God like you,forgiving iniquity and passing over rebellionfor the remnant of his inheritance?He does not hold on to his anger foreverbecause he delights in faithful love.