oeb-working-32-Jonah.rtf

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\sectd\sect{\header \pard\qr\plain\f0\fs16 Jonah (Page \chpgn) \par}{\pard \pagebb
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{\pard\sb360\sa360\fs72 Jonah
 
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{\pard\sb360\sa360\fs36 Jonah runs away

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{\pard\sl280\slmult1\fs24\fi720 
 {\cf1 1}This message from the {\scaps {\super\cf2\fs24 1}Lord} came to Jonah, the son of Amittai: {\super\cf2\fs24 2}\uc1\u8220*Arise, go to that great city, Nineveh, and preach against it; for their wickedness is known to me.\uc1\u8221* {\super\cf2\fs24 3}But Jonah started to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the {\scaps Lord}. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the {\scaps Lord}. {\super\cf2\fs24 4}But the {\scaps Lord} made a furious wind blow over the sea, and there was such a great storm that the ship was in danger of breaking to pieces. {\super\cf2\fs24 5}The sailors were terrified and each cried for help to his own god. They threw the ship\uc1\u8217*s cargo into the sea to make the ship lighter. Meanwhile Jonah had gone down into the bottom of the ship and lay fast asleep. {\super\cf2\fs24 6}The captain of the ship went and said to him, \uc1\u8220*How can you sleep? Call on your god; perhaps that god will think of us, so that we may not be lost.\uc1\u8221*
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{\pard\sl280\slmult1\fs24\fi720 
 {\super\cf2\fs24 7}The sailors said to one another, \uc1\u8220*Come, let us cast lots to discover on whose account this evil has come upon us.\uc1\u8221* So they cast lots, and the lot indicated Jonah. {\super\cf2\fs24 8}So they said to him, \uc1\u8220*Are you to blame for this? Tell us, what is your business, and where do you come from? What is your country and to what people do you belong?\uc1\u8221* {\super\cf2\fs24 9}He replied, \uc1\u8220*I am a Hebrew, and a worshipper of the {\scaps Lord}, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.\uc1\u8221* {\super\cf2\fs24 10}Then the men were greatly frightened and said to him, \uc1\u8220*What have you done?\uc1\u8221* For they knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the {\scaps Lord}, because he had told them.
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 {\super\cf2\fs24 11}Then they said to him, \uc1\u8220*What should we do to you, to make the sea calm for us?\uc1\u8221* For the sea grew more and more stormy. {\super\cf2\fs24 12}He said to them, \uc1\u8220*Take me up and throw me into the sea, and the sea will be calm for you, for I know that it is because of me this fierce storm has overtaken you.\uc1\u8221*
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{\pard\sl280\slmult1\fs24\fi720 
 {\super\cf2\fs24 13}But instead the men rowed hard to get back to the land; they could not, however, for the sea grew more and more stormy ahead. {\super\cf2\fs24 14}So they cried to the {\scaps Lord} and said, \uc1\u8220*We beg you, {\scaps Lord}, we beg you, don\uc1\u8217*t let us die for this man\uc1\u8217*s life, and don\uc1\u8217*t let us be guilty of shedding innocent blood, for you are the {\scaps Lord}; you have done as it pleases you.\uc1\u8221* {\super\cf2\fs24 15}And they took up Jonah, and threw him into the sea; and the sea became calm. {\super\cf2\fs24 16}Then the men greatly feared the {\scaps Lord}, and they offered a sacrifice and made vows to him.
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 {\super\cf2\fs24 17}But the {\scaps Lord} arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
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{\pard\sb360\sa360\fs36 Jonah\uc1\u8217*s song
 
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{\pard\sl280\slmult1\fs24\fi720 
 {\cf1 2}Jonah prayed to the {\scaps {\super\cf2\fs24 1}Lord} his God, out of the belly of the fish, {\super\cf2\fs24 2}and said:
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I cried out of my distress, to the {\scaps Lord}
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and he answered me;
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out of the midst of Sheol I cried aloud,
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and you heard my voice.
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{\pard 

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 {\super\cf2\fs24 3}For you cast me into the deep,
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into heart of the seas,
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and the great flood rolled about me;
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all your breakers and your waves
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passed over me.
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{\pard 

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 {\super\cf2\fs24 4}Then I said, I am driven out,
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away from your sight;
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How will I ever again
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look towards your holy temple?
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{\pard 

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 {\super\cf2\fs24 5}The waters surrounded me,
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the great deep engulfed me,
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the sea weeds were wrapped about my head.
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 {\super\cf2\fs24 6}I went down to the roots of the mountains;
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the prison of the earth closed over me forever.
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{\pard 

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Yet you brought up my life from destruction,
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O {\scaps Lord} my God.
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{\pard\fi-2440\li2800
 {\super\cf2\fs24 7}As my life slipped away,
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I remembered the {\scaps Lord};
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and my prayer reached you,
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in your holy temple.
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{\pard 

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 {\super\cf2\fs24 8}Those who worship worthless idols
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abandon their own mercy,
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 {\super\cf2\fs24 9}but I will sacrifice to you
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with loud thanksgiving!
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I will pay that which I have vowed.
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Salvation is the {\scaps Lord}\uc1\u8217*s.
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{\pard\sl280\slmult1\fs24\fi720 
 {\super\cf2\fs24 10}And the {\scaps Lord} spoke to the fish, and it threw up Jonah upon the dry land. 
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{\pard\sb360\sa360\fs36 The message to Nineveh

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{\pard\sl280\slmult1\fs24\fi720 
 {\cf1 3}This message from the {\scaps {\super\cf2\fs24 1}Lord} came to Jonah the second time, {\super\cf2\fs24 2}\uc1\u8220*Arise, go to that great city, Nineveh, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.\uc1\u8221* {\super\cf2\fs24 3}So Jonah started for Nineveh, as the {\scaps Lord} commanded. Now Nineveh was so large a city that it took three days\uc1\u8217* journey to cross it. {\super\cf2\fs24 4}Jonah began by going a day\uc1\u8217*s journey into the city, and he proclaimed, \uc1\u8220*Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown.\uc1\u8221*
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 {\super\cf2\fs24 5}And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they ordered a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. {\super\cf2\fs24 6}And when word came to the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his robe, dressed in sackcloth, and sat in ashes. {\super\cf2\fs24 7}And he made this proclamation and published it in Nineveh: \uc1\u8220*By the decree of the king and his nobles: People, beast, herd, and flock shall not taste anything; let them not eat nor drink water. {\super\cf2\fs24 8}Let both people and animals put on sackcloth and let them cry earnestly to God; let them each turn from their evil ways and from the deeds of violence which they are doing. {\super\cf2\fs24 9}Who knows? God may relent and avert his fierce anger, so that we may not die.\uc1\u8221*
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{\pard\sl280\slmult1\fs24\fi720 
 {\super\cf2\fs24 10}When God saw that they turned from their evil course, he relented the evil which he said he would do to them, and did not do it. 
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{\pard\sb360\sa360\fs36 Jonah sulks

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{\pard\sl280\slmult1\fs24\fi720 
 {\cf1 4}But this seemed very wrong to Jonah and he became angry. {\super\cf2\fs24 2}He prayed to the {\scaps Lord} and said, \uc1\u8220*Ah, {\scaps Lord}, wasn\uc1\u8217*t this what I said when I was still in my own country? That was why I fled at once to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, patient, and loving and ready to forgive. {\super\cf2\fs24 3}Therefore, {\scaps Lord}, I beg you, take my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live!\uc1\u8221* {\super\cf2\fs24 4}But the {\scaps Lord} said, \uc1\u8220*Are you doing right in being angry?\uc1\u8221*
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{\pard\sl280\slmult1\fs24\fi720 
 {\super\cf2\fs24 5}Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down on the east side, and there made a hut for himself and sat under it, waiting to see what would become of the city. {\super\cf2\fs24 6}And the {\scaps Lord} arranged for a bush to grow up over Jonah as a shade for his head to make him comfortable. The bush gave Jonah great pleasure; {\super\cf2\fs24 7}but at dawn the next day God arranged for a worm which attacked the bush, so that it wilted. {\super\cf2\fs24 8}And when the sun rose, God arranged a hot east wind. And the sun beat upon Jonah\uc1\u8217*s head, so that he was faint and begged that he might die, saying, \uc1\u8220*It is better for me to die than to live.\uc1\u8221* {\super\cf2\fs24 9}But God said to Jonah, \uc1\u8220*Are you doing right in being angry about the bush?\uc1\u8221* He replied, \uc1\u8220*I have every right to be as angry as I could possibly be!\uc1\u8221*
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{\pard\sb360\sa360\fs36 Jonah is rebuked

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{\pard\sl280\slmult1\fs24\fi720 
 {\super\cf2\fs24 10}The {\scaps Lord} said, \uc1\u8220*You care about a bush which has cost you no trouble and which you have not made grow, which came up in a night and wilted in a night. {\super\cf2\fs24 11}Should I not care for the great city Nineveh, in which there are one hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left; and many cattle too?\uc1\u8221*
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