Study Desk

There will be an earthquake that will shake the whole land because of what they did. Everyone living there will cry for those who died. The land will be tossed around. The whole land will rise and fall like the Nile River in Egypt."

You will be covered with shame because you were very cruel to your brother Jacob. So you will be destroyed completely.

The family of Jacob will be like a fire. The nation of Joseph will be like a flame. But the nation of Esau will be like ashes. The people of Judah will burn Edom, and they will destroy it. Then there will be no survivors in the nation of Esau." This will happen because the Lord said it would.

Then the men said to each other, "We should throw lots to find out why this is happening to us." So the men threw lots. The lots showed that the troubles came to them because of Jonah.

The Lord made a gourd plant grow quickly over Jonah. This made a cool place for Jonah to sit and helped him to be more comfortable. He was very happy because of this plant.

But God said to Jonah, "Do you think it is right for you to be angry just because this plant died?" Jonah answered, "Yes, it is right for me to be angry! I am angry enough to die!"

This will happen because of Jacob's sin, because of the sins of the nation of Israel. What caused Jacob to sin? It was Samaria. Where is the high place in Judah? It is Jerusalem.

All her idols will be broken to pieces. And the offerings to her idols will be burned. I will destroy all her statues of false gods, because she got them as pay for being a prostitute. So those things will be taken away to be used again for paying prostitutes.

So cut off your hair, make yourself bald, because you will cry for the children you love. Make yourself bald like an eagle and show your sadness, because your children will be taken away from you.

Trouble will come to those who make plans to sin. They lie on their beds making their evil plans. Then when the morning light comes, they do what they planned, because they have the power to do what they want.

That is why the Lord says: "Look, I am planning trouble against this family. You will not be able to save yourselves. You will stop being proud, because bad times are coming.

But people of Jacob, I must say these things. The Lord is losing his patience because of the bad things you did. If you lived right, I could say nice words to you.

Get up and leave! This will not be your place of rest, because you ruined it. You made it unclean, so it will be destroyed! It will be a terrible destruction!

Then you will pray to the Lord , but he will not answer you. No, he will hide his face from you, because what you do is evil."

The seers are ashamed. The fortunetellers are embarrassed. None of them will say anything, because God will not speak to them."

Leaders, because of you, Zion will be destroyed. It will become a plowed field. Jerusalem will become a pile of rocks. Temple Mount will be an empty hill overgrown with bushes.

They will sit under their own grapevine and fig tree. No one will make them afraid. That is because the Lord All-Powerful said it would happen like that.

He will begin to rule Israel in the power of the Lord . Like a shepherd, he will lead his people in the wonderful name of the Lord his God. And they will live in safety because then his greatness will be known all over the world.

So I have begun to punish you. I will destroy you because of your sins.

This is because you obey the laws of Omri. You do all the evil things that Ahab's family does. You follow their teachings, so I will let you be destroyed. People will whistle in amazement when they see your destroyed city. Then you will bear the shame that the other nations bring to you."