The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

For the Lord, the GOD of hosts, is He that toucheth the land and it melteth, and all that dwell therein mourn; and it riseth up wholly like the River, and sinketh again, like the River of Egypt;

It is He that buildeth His upper chambers in the heaven, and hath founded His vault upon the earth; He that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; The LORD is His name.

Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians unto Me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?

Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD.

For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, that say: 'The evil shall not overtake nor confront us.'

In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof, and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old;

That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations, upon whom My name is called, saith the LORD that doeth this.

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.

And I will turn the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.

THE VISION of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom: We have heard a message from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the nations: 'Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.'

Behold, I make thee small among the nations; thou art greatly despised.

The pride of thy heart hath beguiled thee, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, thy habitation on high; that sayest in thy heart: 'Who shall bring me down to the ground?'

Though thou make thy nest as high as the eagle, and though thou set it among the stars, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD.

If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night — how art thou cut off! — would they not steal till they had enough? If grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes?

How is Esau searched out! How are his hidden places sought out!

All the men of thy confederacy have conducted thee to the border; the men that were at peace with thee have beguiled thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread lay a snare under thee, in whom there is no discernment.

Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and discernment out of the mount of Esau?

And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one may be cut off from the mount of Esau by slaughter.

For the violence done to thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.

In the day that thou didst stand aloof, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.

But thou shouldest not have gazed on the day of thy brother in the day of his disaster, neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.

Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of My people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have gazed on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity.

Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.

For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations; as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; thy dealing shall return upon thine own head.

For as ye have drunk upon My holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and swallow down, and shall be as though they had not been.

But in mount Zion there shall be those that escape, and it shall be holy; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken.

And they of the South shall possess the mount of Esau, and they of the Lowland the Philistines; and they shall possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria; and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel, that are among the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath, and the captivity of Jerusalem, that is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the South.

And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD'S.

NOW THE WORD of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying:

'Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim against it; for their wickedness is come up before Me.'

But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD; and he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish, from the presence of the LORD.

But the LORD hurled a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

And the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god; and they cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it unto them. But Jonah was gone down into the innermost parts of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him: 'What meanest thou that thou sleepest? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.'

And they said every one to his fellow: 'Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us.' So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

Then said they unto him: 'Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us: what is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?'

And he said unto them: 'I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who hath made the sea and the dry land.'

Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him: 'What is this that thou hast done?' For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

Then said they unto him: 'What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us?' for the sea grew more and more tempestuous.

And he said unto them: 'Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you; for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.'

Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not; for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.

Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said: 'We beseech Thee, O LORD, we beseech Thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood; for Thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased Thee.'

So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging.

Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.

And the LORD prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly.

And he said: I called out of mine affliction unto the LORD, and He answered me; out of the belly of the nether-world cried I, and Thou heardest my voice.

For Thou didst cast me into the depth, in the heart of the seas, and the flood was round about me; all Thy waves and Thy billows passed over me.

And I said: 'I am cast out from before Thine eyes'; yet I will look again toward Thy holy temple.

The waters compassed me about, even to the soul; the deep was round about me; the weeds were wrapped about my head.

I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars closed upon me for ever; yet hast Thou brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.

When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD; and my prayer came in unto Thee, into Thy holy temple.

They that regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

But I will sacrifice unto Thee with the voice of thanksgiving; that which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is of the LORD.

And the LORD spoke unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying:

'Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and make unto it the proclamation that I bid thee.'

So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city, of three days' journey.

And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he proclaimed, and said: 'Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.'

And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

And the tidings reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying: 'Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing; let them not feed, nor drink water;

but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast, and let them cry mightily unto God; yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

Who knoweth whether God will not turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?'

And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, which He said He would do unto them; and He did it not.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.

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.

Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.'

And the LORD said: 'Art thou greatly angry?'

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.

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.

But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered.

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.'

And God said to Jonah: 'Art thou greatly angry for the gourd?' And he said: 'I am greatly angry, even unto death.'

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;

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?'

THE WORD of the LORD that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

Hear, ye peoples, all of you; Hearken, O earth, and all that therein is; and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.

For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of His place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.

And the mountains shall be molten under Him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, as waters that are poured down a steep place.

For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?

Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the field, a place for the planting of vineyards; and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will uncover the foundations thereof.

And all her graven images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her hires shall be burned with fire, and all her idols will I lay desolate; for of the hire of a harlot hath she gathered them, and unto the hire of a harlot shall they return.

For this will I wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals, and a mourning like the ostriches.

For her wound is incurable; for it is come even unto Judah; it reacheth unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

Tell it not in Gath, weep not at all; at Beth-le-aphrah roll thyself in the dust.

Pass ye away, O inhabitant of Saphir, in nakedness and shame; the inhabitant of Zaanan is not come forth; the wailing of Beth-ezel shall take from you the standing-place thereof.

For the inhabitant of Maroth waiteth anxiously for good; because evil is come down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem.

Bind the chariots to the swift steeds, O inhabitant of Lachish; she was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the transgressions of Israel are found in thee.

Therefore shalt thou give a parting gift to Moresheth-gath; the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing unto the kings of Israel.

I will yet bring unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah, him that shall possess thee; the glory of Israel shall come even unto Adullam.

Make thee bald, and poll thee for the children of thy delight; enlarge thy baldness as the vulture; for they are gone into captivity from thee.

Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light, they execute it, because it is in the power of their hand.

And they covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away; thus they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

Therefore thus saith the LORD: Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks, neither shall ye walk upright; for it shall be an evil time.

In that day shall they take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say: 'We are utterly ruined; he changeth the portion of my people; how doth he remove it from me! Instead of restoring our fields, he divideth them.'