Jonah 4 - Micah 2
Christian Standard Bible
Jonah’s Anger
4 Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious.(A) 2 He prayed to the Lord,(B) “Please, Lord, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place.(C) I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God,(D) slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster.(E) 3 And now, Lord, take my life from me,(F) for it is better for me to die than to live.”(G)
4 The Lord asked, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
5 Jonah left the city and found a place east of it.(H) He made himself a shelter there and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God appointed a plant, and it grew over Jonah to provide shade for his head to rescue him from his trouble.[a] Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant. 7 When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, and it withered.(I)
8 As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind.(J) The sun beat down on Jonah’s head(K) so much that he almost fainted, and he wanted to die. He said, “It’s better for me to die than to live.”(L)
9 Then God asked Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“Yes, it’s right!” he replied. “I’m angry enough to die!”
10 And the Lord said, “You cared about the plant, which you did not labor over and did not grow. It appeared in a night and perished in a night. 11 So may I not care about the great city of Nineveh,(M) which has more than a hundred twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left,(N) as well as many animals?”(O)
1 The word of the Lord that came(P) to Micah(Q) the Moreshite(R)—what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem in the days of Jotham,(S) Ahaz,(T) and Hezekiah,(U) kings of Judah.
Coming Judgment on Israel
2 Listen, all you peoples;(V)
pay attention, earth[b] and everyone in it!(W)
The Lord God will be a witness against you,(X)
the Lord, from his holy temple.(Y)
3 Look, the Lord is leaving his place(Z)
and coming down to trample
the heights[c] of the earth.(AA)
4 The mountains will melt beneath him,
and the valleys will split apart,
like wax near a fire,(AB)
like water cascading down a mountainside.
5 All this will happen because of Jacob’s rebellion
and the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the rebellion of Jacob?
Isn’t it Samaria?(AC)
And what is the high place of Judah?(AD)
Isn’t it Jerusalem?
6 Therefore, I will make Samaria
a heap of ruins(AE) in the countryside,
a planting area(AF) for a vineyard.
I will roll her stones(AG) into the valley
and expose her foundations.(AH)
7 All her carved images will be smashed(AI) to pieces;
all her wages(AJ) will be burned in the fire,
and I will destroy all her idols.
Since she collected the wages of a prostitute,(AK)
they will be used again for a prostitute.
Micah’s Lament
8 Because of this I will lament and wail;
I will walk barefoot and naked.(AL)
I will howl like the jackals(AM)
and mourn like ostriches.[d]
9 For her wound is incurable(AN)
and has reached even Judah;(AO)
it has approached my people’s city gate,(AP)
as far as Jerusalem.
10 Don’t announce it in Gath,(AQ)
don’t weep at all.
Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah.
11 Depart in shameful nakedness,(AR)
you residents of Shaphir;
the residents of Zaanan(AS) will not come out.
Beth-ezel is lamenting;
its support[e] is taken from you.
12 Though the residents of Maroth
anxiously wait for something good,(AT)
disaster has come from the Lord(AU)
to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the horses to the chariot,
you residents of Lachish.(AV)
This was the beginning of sin for Daughter Zion
because Israel’s acts of rebellion(AW) can be traced to you.
14 Therefore, send farewell gifts(AX) to Moresheth-gath;
the houses of Achzib(AY) are a deception(AZ)
to the kings of Israel.
15 I will again bring a conqueror
against you who live in Mareshah.(BA)
The nobility[f] of Israel will come to Adullam.(BB)
16 Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hair(BC)
in sorrow for your precious children;
make yourselves as bald as an eagle,
for they have been taken from you into exile.(BD)
Oppressors Judged
2 Woe to those who dream up wickedness
and prepare evil plans(BE) on their beds!
At morning light(BF) they accomplish it
because the power is in their hands.(BG)
2 They covet fields(BH) and seize them;(BI)
they also take houses.
They deprive a man of his home,(BJ)
a person of his inheritance.(BK)
3 Therefore, the Lord says:
I am now planning(BL) a disaster
against this nation;(BM)
you cannot free your necks from it.(BN)
Then you will not walk so proudly(BO)
because it will be an evil time.(BP)
4 In that day one will take up(BQ) a taunt against you
and lament mournfully,(BR) saying,
“We are totally ruined!(BS)
He measures out the allotted land of my people.
How he removes it from me!
He allots our fields(BT) to traitors.”
5 Therefore, there will be no one
in the assembly of the Lord
to divide the land by casting lots.[g](BU)
God’s Word Rejected
6 “Quit your preaching,”(BV) they[h] preach.
“They should not preach these things;(BW)
shame will not overtake us.”[i](BX)
7 House of Jacob, should it be asked,
“Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient?(BY)
Are these the things he does?”
Don’t my words bring good(BZ)
to the one who walks uprightly?(CA)
8 But recently my people have risen up
like an enemy:(CB)
You strip off the splendid robe(CC)
from those who are passing through confidently,(CD)
like those returning from war.
9 You force(CE) the women of my people
out of their comfortable homes,
and you take my blessing[j](CF)
from their children forever.
10 Get up and leave,
for this is not your place of rest(CG)
because defilement(CH) brings destruction—
a grievous destruction!(CI)
11 If a man comes
and utters empty lies(CJ)—
“I will preach to you about wine and beer”(CK)—
he would be just the preacher for this people!(CL)
The Remnant Regathered
12 I will indeed gather(CM) all of you, Jacob;
I will collect the remnant of Israel.(CN)
I will bring them together like sheep in a pen,
like a flock in the middle of its pasture.
It will be noisy with people.(CO)
13 One who breaks open the way
will advance before them;
they will break out, pass through the city gate,
and leave by it.
Their King will pass through before them,
the Lord as their leader.
Footnotes
- 4:6 Or disaster, or evil
- 1:2 Or land
- 1:3 Or high places
- 1:8 Or eagle owls; lit daughters of the desert
- 1:11 Lit its standing place; Hb obscure
- 1:15 Lit glory
- 2:5 Lit Lord stretching the measuring line by lot
- 2:6 = the prophets
- 2:6 Text emended; MT reads things. Shame will not depart
- 2:9 Perhaps the land
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