Tuesday in Season after Pentecost

18Verse 18. “Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you. 19Verse 19. And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’” 20Verse 20. Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah: 21Verse 21. “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear. 22Verse 22. Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it. 23Verse 23. But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone away. 24Verse 24. They have not said in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’ 25Verse 25. Your iniquities have diverted these from you; your sins have deprived you of My bounty. 26Verse 26. For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men. 27Verse 27. Like cages full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become powerful and rich. 28Verse 28. They have grown fat and sleek, and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked. They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless, that they might prosper; nor have they defended the rights of the needy. 29Verse 29. Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this? 30Verse 30. A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land. 31Verse 31. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?[’’]

1Verse 1. Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2Verse 2. “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.” 3Verse 3. This time Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, in accordance with the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, requiring a three-day journey. 4Verse 4. On the first day of his journey, Jonah set out into the city and proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!” 5Verse 5. And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least. 6Verse 6. When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7Verse 7. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let no man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink. 8Verse 8. Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands. 9Verse 9. Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.” 10Verse 10. When God saw their actions— that they had turned from their evil ways— He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.