Jonah 3

Nineveh Repents

1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying,2 "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you."3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was tan exceedingly great city, a three days' walk.4 Then Jonah began to go through the city one day's walk; and he cried out and said, "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown."

5 Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes.7 He issued a proclamation and it said, "In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water.8 But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands.9 Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish."

10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.

Jonah 4

Jonah's Displeasure Rebuked

1 But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry.2 He prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.3 Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life."4 The LORD said, "Do you have good reason to be angry?"

5 Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city.6 So the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.7 But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered.8 When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, "Death is better to me than life."

9 Then God said to Jonah, "Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?" And he said, "I have good reason to be angry, even to death."10 Then the LORD said, "You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight.11 Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?"

Micah 1

Destruction in Israel and Judah

1 The word of the LORD which came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

2 Hear, O peoples, all of you;
Listen, O earth and all it contains,
And let the Lord GOD be a witness against you,
The Lord from His holy temple.

3 For behold, the LORD is coming forth from His place.
He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.

4 The mountains will melt under Him
And the valleys will be split,
Like wax before the fire,
Like water poured down a steep place.

5 All this is for the rebellion of Jacob
And for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the rebellion of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
What is the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?

6 For I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the open country,
Planting places for a vineyard.
I will pour her stones down into the valley
And will lay bare her foundations.

7 All of her idols will be smashed,
All of her earnings will be burned with fire
And all of her images I will make desolate,
For she collected them from a harlot's earnings,
And to the earnings of a harlot they will return.

8 Because of this I must lament and wail,
I must go barefoot and naked;
I must make a lament like the jackals
And a mourning like the ostriches.

9 For her wound is incurable,
For it has come to Judah;
It has reached the gate of my people,
Even to Jerusalem.

10 Tell it not in Gath,
Weep not at all.
At tBeth-le-aphrah roll yourself in the dust.

11 Go on your way, inhabitant of tShaphir, in shameful nakedness.
The inhabitant of tZaanan does not escape.
The lamentation of tBeth-ezel: "He will take from you its support."

12 For the inhabitant of tMaroth
Becomes weak waiting for good,
Because a calamity has come down from the LORD
To the gate of Jerusalem.

13 Harness the chariot to the team of horses,
O inhabitant of Lachish-
She was the beginning of sin
To the daughter of Zion-
Because in you were found
The rebellious acts of Israel.

14 Therefore you will give parting gifts
On behalf of Moresheth-gath;
The houses of Achzib will become a deception
To the kings of Israel.

15 Moreover, I will bring on you
The one who takes possession,
O inhabitant of tMareshah.
The glory of Israel will enter Adullam.

16 Make yourself bald and cut off your hair,
Because of the children of your delight;
Extend your baldness like the eagle,
For they will go from you into exile.