4 and He did it not. 1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said: 'I pray Thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in mine own country? Therefore I fled beforehand unto Tarshish; for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, and repentest Thee of the evil. 3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.' 4 And the LORD said: 'Art thou greatly angry?' 5 Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. 6 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his evil. So Jonah was exceeding glad because of the gourd. 7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered. 8 And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said: 'It is better for me to die than to live.' 9 And God said to Jonah: 'Art thou greatly angry for the gourd?' And he said: 'I am greatly angry, even unto death.' 10 And the LORD said: "Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow, which came up in a night, and perished in a night; 11 and should not I have pity on Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle?' 3 MICAH Against False Prophets 5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the proph. ets that make my people to err; That cry: 'Peace', when their teeth have any And whoso putteth not into their mouths, 6 Therefore it shall be night unto you, that ye shall have no vision; And it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; And the sun shall go down upon the prophets, And the day shall be black over them. 7 And the seers shall be put to shame, and the diviners confounded; Yea, they shall all cover their upper lips; 8 But I truly am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, And of justice, and of might, To declare unto Jacob his transgression, 9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, And rulers of the house of Israel, That abhor justice, and pervert all equity; 10 That build up Zion with blood, And Jerusalem with iniquity. 11 The heads thereof judge for reward, And the priests thereof teach for hire, And the prophets thereof divine for money; Yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say: "Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No evil shall come upon us'? 12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, 4 And Jerusalem shall become heaps, And the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. Vision of Peace Universal But in the end of days it shall come to pass, That the mountain of the LORD's house shall And it shall be exalted above the hills; 2 And many nations shall go and say: 'Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain And to the house of the God of Jacob; For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 3 And He shall judge between many peoples, And shall decide concerning mighty nations afar off; And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning-hooks; 4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; And none shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken. 5 For let all the peoples walk each one in the name of its god, But we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever. 6 In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, And I will gather her that is driven away, 7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, And her that was cast far off a mighty nation; And the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from thenceforth even for ever. 6 True Religion Hear ye now what the LORD saith: Arise, contend thou before the mountains, 2 Hear, O ye mountains, the LORD's controversy, And ye enduring rocks, the foundations of the earth; For the LORD hath a controversy with His people, And He will plead with Israel. 3 O My people, what have I done unto thee? And wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against Me. 4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, And redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, And I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; From Shittim unto Gilgal, That ye may know the righteous acts of the 6 'Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, And bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt-offerings, With calves of a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, With ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?' 8 It hath been told thec, O man, what is good, And what the LORD doth require of thee: Only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. |