JOEL 234. THE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES IN STORE FOR THE PENITENT This is the message of Jehovah: "Turn to me whole-heartedly, And with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your hearts and not your garments, And turn to Jehovah your God; For indeed he is gracious and merciful, Patient and abounding in love, And he relents of the evil he would send. "Then you shall eat your food and be satisfied, And praise the name of Jehovah your God, Who has treated you so wondrously; And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, 'Afterward I will pour out my spirit upon all mankind; Your sons and your daughters shall speak in ecstasy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions, And even on your male and female slaves 235. JONAH THE FOLLY AND IMPIETY OF NARROW This message from Jehovah came to Jonah the son of Amittai: 'Arise, go to that great city, Nineveh, and preach against it; for their wickedness is known to me.' But Jonah started to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare and embarked to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah. But Jehovah made a furious wind descend upon the sea, and there was such a great storm that the ship was in danger of breaking to pieces. Then the sailors were afraid and each cried for help to his own god; and they threw into the sea the things that were in the ship, in order to lighten it. But Jonah had gone down into the bottom of the ship and lay fast asleep. Then the captain of the ship went and said to him, 'How is it that you are asleep? Call on your god; perhaps that god will give a thought to us, so that we may not be lost.' And they said to one another, 'Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil, has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then they said to him, 'Tell us, what is your occupation, and where do you come from? What is your country and to what race do you belong?' He said to them, 'I am a Hebrew, and a worshipper of Jehovah, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.' Then the men were exceedingly terrified and said to him, 'What is this you have done?' For they knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Jehovah, because he had told them. Then they said to him, 'What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm for us?' for the sea grew more and more stormy. He said to them, "Take me up and throw me into the sea, and the sea will be calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has overtaken you.' But the men rowed hard to get back to the land; they could not, however, for the sea grew more and more stormy ahead. Therefore they cried to Jehovah and said, 'We beseech thee, O Jehovah, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, nor let us be guilty of shedding innocent blood, for thou art Jehovah; thou hast done as it pleases thee.' So they took up Jonah, and threw him into the sea; and the sea became calm. Then the men feared Jehovah exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice and made vows to him. But Jehovah prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. There Jonah prayed to Jehovah his God; and Jehovah spoke to the fish, and it threw Jonah out upon the dry land. 236. GOD'S BOUNDLESS LOVE FOR ALL HIS CREATURES This message from Jehovah came to Jonah the second time, ‘Arise, go to that great city, Nineveh, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.' So Jonah started for Nineveh, as Jehovah commanded. Now Nineveh was a great city, three days' journey across. And Jonah began by going through the city a day's journey, and he proclaimed, 'Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown.' And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 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. And he made this proclamation and published it in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Man, beast, herd, and flock shall not taste anything; let them not eat nor drink water; but let both man and beast put on sackcloth, and let them cry earnestly to God, and turn each from his evil course and from the acts of violence which they are doing. Who knows but that God may relent and avert his fierce anger, that we may not perish.' When God saw that they turned from their evil course, he relented of the evil which he said he would do to them, and did not do it. But this displeased Jonah very much and he was angry. And he prayed to Jehovah and said, ‘Ah, Jehovah, was not this what I said when I was still in my own country? It was that which I wished to prevent by fleeing to Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a God, gracious and merciful, patient, and abounding in love, and relenting of evil. Therefore, O Jehovah, take now, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live!' But Jehovah said, 'Are you doing right in being angry?' Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down on the east side, and there made a booth for himself and sat under it, until he might see what would become of the city. And Jehovah prepared a gourd and made it grow up over Jonah as a shade over his head. So the gourd afforded Jonah great pleasure; but at dawn the next day God prepared a worm which injured the gourd, so that it withered. And when the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat upon Jonah's head, so that he was faint and begged that he might die, saying, ‘It is better for me to die than to live.' But God said to Jonah, ‘Are you doing right in being angry about the gourd?' He replied, 'I am doing right in being mortally angry!' Jehovah said, ‘You have pity on a gourd which has cost you no trouble and which you have not made grow; which came up in a night and perished in a night. Should I not have pity on the great city Nineveh in which there are one hundred and twenty thousand human beings who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left; besides much cattle?' |