Obadiah

Obadiah’s prophecy was a warning to the country of Edom, a nation bordering Judah. He announced that God would judge the nation and destroy it because the Edomites had invaded and plundered Jerusalem several times.

Obadiah’s Vision

1–4pp—Jer 49:14–16
5–6pp—Jer 49:9–10

1 The visiona of Obadiah.

This is what the Sovereign Lord says about Edomb—

We have heard a message from the Lord:

An envoyc was sent to the nations to say,

“Rise, let us go against her for battle”d—

2 “See, I will make you smalle among the nations;

you will be utterly despised.

3 The pridef of your heart has deceived you,

you who live in the clefts of the rocksa g

and make your home on the heights,

you who say to yourself,

‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’h

4 Though you soar like the eagle

and make your nesti among the stars,

from there I will bring you down,”j

declares the Lord.k

5 “If thieves came to you,

if robbers in the night—

oh, what a disaster awaits you!—

would they not steal only as much as they wanted?

If grape pickers came to you,

would they not leave a few grapes?l

6 But how Esau will be ransacked,

his hidden treasures pillaged!

7 All your alliesm will force you to the border;

your friends will deceive and overpower you;

those who eat your breadn will set a trap for you,b

but you will not detect it.

8 “In that day,” declares the Lord,

“will I not destroyo the wise men of Edom,

those of understanding in the mountains of Esau?

9 Your warriors, Teman,p will be terrified,

and everyone in Esau’s mountains

will be cut down in the slaughter.

10 Because of the violenceq against your brother Jacob,r

you will be covered with shame;

you will be destroyed forever.s

11 On the day you stood aloof

while strangers carried off his wealth

and foreigners entered his gates

and cast lotst for Jerusalem,

you were like one of them.u

12 You should not gloatv over your brother

in the day of his misfortune,w

nor rejoicex over the people of Judah

in the day of their destruction,y

nor boastz so much

in the day of their trouble.a

13 You should not march through the gates of my people

in the day of their disaster,

nor gloat over them in their calamityb

in the day of their disaster,

nor seize their wealth

in the day of their disaster.

14 You should not wait at the crossroads

to cut down their fugitives,c

nor hand over their survivors

in the day of their trouble.

15 “The day of the Lord is neard

for all nations.

As you have done, it will be done to you;

your deedse will return upon your own head.

16 Just as you drankf on my holy hill,g

so all the nations will drinkh continually;

they will drink and drink

and be as if they had never been.i

17 But on Mount Zion will be deliverance;j

it will be holy,k

and Jacob will possess his inheritance.l

18 Jacob will be a fire

and Joseph a flame;

Esau will be stubble,

and they will set him on firem and destroyn him.

There will be no survivorso

from Esau.”

The Lord has spoken.

19 People from the Negev will occupy

the mountains of Esau,

and people from the foothills will possess

the land of the Philistines.p

They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria,q

and Benjaminr will possess Gilead.

20 This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan

will possess the land as far as Zarephath;s

the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad

will possess the towns of the Negev.t

21 Deliverersu will go up onc Mount Zion

to govern the mountains of Esau.

And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.v

Jonah

Jonah was a prophet called by God to preach in the capital city of Assyria—Nineveh. Jonah resisted God’s call to preach to his nation’s longtime enemy. But after disobeying God and ending up in the belly of a fish, Jonah reluctantly went to Nineveh and found Israel’s enemies responsive to God’s message.

Jonah Flees From the Lord

1 The word of the Lord came to Jonaha son of Amittai:b 2 “Go to the great city of Ninevehc and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

3 But Jonah rand away from the Lord and headed for Tarshishe. He went down to Joppa,f where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.g

4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.h 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.i

But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and callj on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”k

7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.”l They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.m 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”

9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord,n the God of heaven,o who made the seap and the dry land.q”

10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)

11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”

12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”r

13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.s 14 Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man,t for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.”u 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.v 16 At this the men greatly fearedw the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vowsx to him.

Jonah’s Prayer

17 Now the Lord providedy a huge fish to swallow Jonah,z and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

2 a From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2 He said:

“In my distress I calleda to the Lord,b

and he answered me.

From deep in the realm of the deadc I called for help,

and you listened to my cry.

3 You hurled me into the depths,d

into the very heart of the seas,

and the currents swirled about me;

all your wavese and breakers

swept over me.f

4 I said, ‘I have been banished

from your sight;g

yet I will look again

toward your holy temple.’h

5 The engulfing waters threatened me,b

the deep surrounded me;

seaweed was wrapped around my head.i

6 To the roots of the mountainsj I sank down;

the earth beneath barred me in forever.

But you, Lord my God,

brought my life up from the pit.k

7 “When my life was ebbing away,

I rememberedl you, Lord,

and my prayerm rose to you,

to your holy temple.n

8 “Those who cling to worthless idolso

turn away from God’s love for them.

9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise,p

will sacrificeq to you.

What I have vowedr I will make good.

I will say, ‘Salvations comes from the Lord.’ ”

10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonaht a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming,u “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.v

6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.w 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:

“By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink.x 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone cally urgently on God. Let them give upz their evil waysa and their violence.b 9 Who knows?c God may yet relentd and with compassion turne from his fierce angerf so that we will not perish.”

10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relentedg and did not bring on them the destructionh he had threatened.i