Study Desk

Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion growl from his den if he has not captured something?

Surely the Lord GOD does nothing Without revealing His secret plan [of the judgment to come] To His servants the prophets.

The Lord GOD has sworn [an oath] by His holiness That, "Behold, the days are coming upon you When they shall take you away with meat hooks, And the last of you with fish hooks.

For behold, He who forms the mountains and creates the wind And declares to man what are His thoughts, He who makes the dawn into darkness And treads on the heights of the earth— The LORD God of hosts is His name.

He who made the [cluster of stars called] Pleiades and [the constellation] Orion, Who turns deep darkness into the morning And darkens the day into night, Who calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the surface of the earth, The LORD is His name.

They hate the one who reprimands [the unrighteous] in the [court held at the city] gate [regarding him as unreasonable and rejecting his reprimand], And they detest him who speaks [the truth] with integrity and honesty.

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.

The Lord GOD has sworn [an oath] by Himself—the LORD God of hosts, says: "I loathe and reject the [self-centered] arrogance of Jacob (Israel), And I hate his palaces and citadels; Therefore, I shall hand over the [idolatrous] city [of Samaria] with all that it contains [to the Assyrian invaders]."

Then one's uncle, or his undertaker, shall come to bring the [disease-infected] body out of the house, [to cremate it], and he will say to another in the farthest part of the house, "Is there anyone else with you?" And that one will say, "No one." Then he will respond, "Hush! Keep quiet! For the name of the LORD is not to be mentioned [even casually, for fear that we might invoke even more punishment]."

Thus He showed me [a vision], and behold, the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand [to determine if the wall was straight or if it needed to be destroyed].

Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel [site of the golden calf shrine], sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is unable to endure all his words.

It is He who builds His upper chambers in the heavens And has established His vaulted dome (the firmament of heaven) over the earth, He who calls to the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth— The LORD is His name.

"How Esau (Edom) shall be ransacked [by men who come to ravage with divine approval]! How his hidden treasures shall be searched out!

"On the day that [Jerusalem was destroyed] you stood aloof [from your brother Jacob]— On the day that strangers took his forces captive and carried off his wealth, And foreigners entered his gates And cast lots for Jerusalem [dividing the city for plunder]— You too were like one of them [collaborating with the enemy].

"Do not gaze and gloat [in triumph] over your brother's day, The day when his misfortune came. Do not rejoice over the sons of Judah In the day of their destruction; Do not speak arrogantly [jeering and maliciously mocking] In the day of their distress.

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.

Then the sailors were afraid, and each man cried out to his god; and to lighten the ship [and diminish the danger] they threw the ship's cargo into the sea. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship and had lain down and was sound asleep.

Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish,

When word reached the king of Nineveh [of Jonah's message from God], he rose from his throne, took off his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in the dust [in repentance].

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