Study Desk

"For the day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. What you do will come back to you on your own head.

The people of Jacob will be a fire. The people of Joseph will be burning. But the people of Esau will be like dry grass. They will set them on fire and destroy them. None of the people of Esau will be left alive," for the Lord has spoken.

"Get up and go to the large city of Nineveh, and preach against it. For their sin has come up before Me."

Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us draw names so we can find out who is to blame for this trouble." So they drew names, and Jonah's name was drawn.

Then they said to him, "Now tell us! Who is to blame for this? What is your work? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"

Then the men were filled with fear and said to him, "How could you do this?" For the men knew that he was running away from the Lord, because he had told them.

So they said to him, "What should we do to you to make the sea quiet down for us?" For the storm was getting worse.

Jonah said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will quiet down for you. For I know that this bad storm has come upon you because of me."

The men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the wind was blowing even worse against them.

Then they called on the Lord and said, "We beg You, O Lord, do not let us die for what this man has done. And do not let us become guilty for killing someone who is not to blame. For You, O Lord, have done as You have pleased."

The Lord sent a big fish to swallow Jonah, and he was in the stomach of the fish for three days and three nights.

saying, "I called out to the Lord because of my trouble, and He answered me. I cried for help from the place of the dead, and You heard my voice.

Jonah started into the city, for a day's walk, and he cried out, "In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed!"

Then the people of Nineveh believed in God. They called for a time when no food was to be eaten. And all the people, from the greatest to the least, put on clothes made from hair.

He prayed to the Lord and said, "O Lord, is this not what I said You would do while still in my own country? That is why I ran away to Tarshish. For I knew that You are a kind and loving God Who shows pity. I knew that You are slow to anger and are filled with loving-kindness, always ready to change Your mind and not punish.

So now, O Lord, take my life from me. For death is better to me than life."

Then Jonah left the city and sat to the east of the city. There he made a tent for himself, and sat in its shadow until he could see what would happen in the city.

The Lord said, "You had loving-pity on the plant which you did not work for. You did not cause it to grow. It came up during the night and died during the night.

And should I not have loving-pity for Nineveh, the large city where more than 120,000 people live who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?"

All of her false gods will be broken to pieces. Everything given in the place of worship will be burned with fire. I will destroy all her objects of worship, for she gathered them from the pay of a woman who sells the use of her body. They will return to pay a woman who sells the use of her body.