Through the Bible – Day 354

₁One day the LORD told Jonah, the son of Amittai, ₂to go to the great city of Nineveh and say to the people, “The LORD has seen your terrible sins. You are doomed!”

₃Instead, Jonah ran from the LORD. He went to the seaport of Joppa and bought a ticket on a ship that was going to Spain. Then he got on the ship and sailed away to escape.

₄But the LORD made a strong wind blow, and such a bad storm came up that the ship was about to be broken to pieces. ₅The sailors were frightened, and they all started praying to their gods. They even threw the ship's cargo overboard to make the ship lighter.

All this time, Jonah was down below deck, sound asleep. ₆The ship's captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep at a time like this? Get up and pray to your God! Perhaps he will have pity on us and keep us from drowning.”

₇Finally, the sailors got together and said, “Let's ask our gods to show us who caused all this trouble.” It turned out to be Jonah.

₈They started asking him, “Are you the one who brought all this trouble on us? What business are you in? Where do you come from? What is your country? Who are your people?”

₉Jonah answered, “I'm a Hebrew, and I worship the LORD God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

₁₀When the sailors heard this, they were frightened, because Jonah had already told them he was running from the LORD. Then they said, “Do you know what you have done?”

₁₁The storm kept getting worse, until finally the sailors asked him, “What should we do with you to make the sea calm down?”

₁₂Jonah told them, “Throw me into the sea, and it will calm down. I'm the cause of this terrible storm.”

₁₃The sailors tried their best to row to the shore. But they could not do it, and the storm kept getting worse every minute. ₁₄So they prayed to the LORD, “Please don't let us drown for taking this man's life. Don't hold us guilty for killing an innocent man. All this happened because you wanted it to.” ₁₅Then they threw Jonah overboard, and the sea calmed down. ₁₆The sailors were so terrified that they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made all kinds of promises.

₁₇The LORD sent a big fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

₁From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD his God:

₁₀The LORD commanded the fish to vomit up Jonah on the shore. And it did.

₁Once again the LORD told Jonah ₂to go to that great city of Nineveh and preach his message of doom.

₃Jonah obeyed the LORD and went to Nineveh. The city was so big that it took three days just to walk through it. ₄After walking for a day, Jonah warned the people, “Forty days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed!”

₅They believed God's message and set a time when they would go without eating to show their sorrow. Then everyone in the city, no matter who they were, dressed in sackcloth.

₆When the king of Nineveh heard what was happening, he also dressed in sackcloth; he left the royal palace and sat in dust. _7-9Then he and his officials sent out an order for everyone in the city to obey. It said:

₁₀When God saw that the people had stopped doing evil things, he had pity and did not destroy them as he had planned.

₁Jonah was really upset and angry. ₂So he prayed:

₄The LORD replied, “What right do you have to be angry?”

₅Jonah then left through the east gate of the city and made a shelter to protect himself from the sun. He sat under the shelter, waiting to see what would happen to Nineveh.

₆The LORD made a vine grow up to shade Jonah's head and protect him from the sun. Jonah was very happy to have the vine, ₇but early the next morning the LORD sent a worm to chew on the vine, and the vine dried up. ₈During the day the LORD sent a scorching wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah's head, making him feel faint. Jonah was ready to die, and he shouted, “I wish I were dead!”

₉But the LORD asked, “Jonah, do you have the right to be angry about the vine?”

“Yes, I do,” he answered, “and I'm angry enough to die.”

₁₀But the LORD said:

₁An angel gave me a measuring stick and said:

₄These two witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand in the presence of the Lord who rules the earth. ₅Any enemy who tries to harm them will be destroyed by the fire that comes out of their mouths. ₆They have the power to lock up the sky and to keep rain from falling while they are prophesying. And whenever they want to, they can turn water to blood and cause all kinds of terrible troubles on earth.

₇After the two witnesses have finished preaching God's message, the beast that lives in the deep pit will come up and fight against them. It will win the battle and kill them. ₈Their bodies will be left lying in the streets of the same great city where their Lord was nailed to a cross. And that city is spiritually like the city of Sodom or the country of Egypt.

₉For three and a half days the people of every nation, tribe, language, and race will stare at the bodies of these two witnesses and refuse to let them be buried. ₁₀Everyone on earth will celebrate and be happy. They will give gifts to each other, because of what happened to the two prophets who caused them so much trouble. ₁₁But three and a half days later, God will breathe life into their bodies. They will stand up, and everyone who sees them will be terrified.

₁₂The witnesses then heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, “Come up here.” And while their enemies were watching, they were taken up to heaven in a cloud. ₁₃At that same moment there was a terrible earthquake that destroyed a tenth of the city. Seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were frightened and praised the God who rules in heaven.

₁₄The second horrible thing has now happened! But the third one will be here soon.

₁₅At the sound of the seventh trumpet, loud voices were heard in heaven. They said,

₁₆Then the twenty-four elders, who were seated on thrones in God's presence, knelt down and worshipped him. ₁₇They said,

₁₉The door to God's temple in heaven was then opened, and the sacred chest could be seen inside the temple. I saw lightning and heard roars of thunder. The earth trembled and huge hailstones fell to the ground.