V. The people are rebuked for withholding the legal tithes and offerings. CH. III. 7-12. 7 FROM the days of your fathers have ye turned aside from my statutes, And have not kept them; Return to me, and I will return to you, Saith Jehovah of hosts. But ye say, "Wherein shall we return?" 8 Shall a man rob God, That ye have robbed me? But ye say, "Wherein have we robbed thee?" In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse, For ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, That there be fool in my house; And try me now in this, Saith Jehovah of hosts, Whether I will not open to you the windows of heaven, And pour out upon you a blessing, until there is none left. 11 And I will rebuke for you the devourer, And he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, Saith Jehovah of hosts. 12 And all nations shall call you blessed; For ye shall be a delightful land, VI. Whatever may be the appearance of delay, reward will come to the righteous and punishment to the wicked. - CH. III. 13 — IV. 13 YOUR words have been bold against me, saith Jeho Yet ye say, "What have we spoken against thee?" ́14 Ye have said, "It is a vain thing to serve God"; And, "What profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, And that we have walked mournfully before Jehovah of hosts? 15 Therefore we call the proud happy; 16 Yea, they that do wickedness are built up; Then they that feared Jehovah spake to one another, And a book of remembrance was written before him, And that thought upon his name. 17 And they shall be to me, saith Jehovah of hosts, As a father spareth his own son that serveth him. 18 Then shall ye return and see What is the difference between the righteous and the wicked, Between him who serveth God And him who serveth him not. 1 For, behold, the day cometh, which shall burn as an oven; Then shall all the proud, And all that do wickedness, be stubble; And the day that cometh shall burn them up, It shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But for you that fear my name Shall the sun of salvation arise And ye shall go forth and leap for joy, Like calves of the stall. 3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; 4 For they shall be as dust under the soles of your feet Remember ye the law of Moses, ny servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, My statutes and precepts! 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, Before the day of Jehovah come, The great and terrible day. 6 He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, And the heart of the children to their fathers, That I may not come And smite the land with a curse. JONAH. I. Jonah's commission to Nineveh, his disobedience, and his punishment. -CH. I. 3 1 Now the word of Jehovah came to Jonah, the son of 2 Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah; and he went down to Joppa, and. found a ship going to Tarshish, and paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah. 4 But Jehovah sent forth a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship 5 was like to be broken in pieces. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his god. And they cast forth the things that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah had gone down to the low6 er part of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep. And the shipmaster came to him, and said to him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God! Per7 haps God will think upon us, that we perish not. And they said one to another, come, and let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil is upon us ! And they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. 8 Then said they to him, Tell us, we pray thee, on whose account this evil is upon us. What is thy business? And whence comest thou? What is thy country? And of 9 what people art thou? And he said to them, I am a Hebrew; and I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven, who made 10 the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said to him, Wherefore hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of Jeho11 vah, because he had told them. Then said they to him, What shall we do to thee, that the sea may be calm to us? 12 For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. And he said to them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; and the sea shall be calm to you. For I know that because of me this great tempest is upon you. 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring the ship to the land; but they could not; for the sea grew more and 14 more tempestuous against them. And they cried to Jehovah, and said, We beseech thee, O Jehovah, we beseech thee, let us not perish for the life of this man, and lay not upon us innocent blood! For thou, O Jehovah, hast 15 done as it pleased thee. And they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea; and the sea ceased from its 16 raging. Then the men feared Jehovah exceedingly, and offered sacrifice to Jehovah, and made vows. 17 Now Jehovah had appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. II. Jonah's prayer and deliverance. — CH. II. THEN Jonah prayed to Jehovah from the belly of the 2 fish, and said: I cried by reason of my distress to Jehovah, And he heard me: Out of the depth of the under-world I cried, And thou didst hear my voice. 3 Thou didst cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea, And the flood compassed me about; All thy billows and thy waves passed over me. 4 And I said, "I am cast out from before thine eyes; Yet I will look again to thy holy temple!" 5 The waters compassed me about, even to the life, The deep enclosed me round about; |