Manasseh Reigns in Judah

1 ^tManasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 And he ^udid what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^vaccording to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had ^wbroken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and ^xmade Asheroth, and worshiped all the ^yhost of heaven and served them. 4 And he built altars ^zin the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, ^a“In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.” 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6 And he ^bburned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used ^cfortune-telling and omens and ^dsorcery, and dealt with ^emediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 7 And the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, ^fof which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever, 8 ^gand I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land that I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses.” 9 Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.

Manasseh’s Repentance

10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. 11 Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and ^hbound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. 12 And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and ⁱhumbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.

14 Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the Fish Gate, and carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. 15 And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city. 16 He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. 17 Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, behold, they are in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 19 And his prayer, and how God was moved by his entreaty, and all his sin and his faithlessness, and the sites on which he built high places and set up the Asherim and the images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the Chronicles of the Seers.¹ 20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his house, and Amon his son reigned in his place.

Amon’s Reign and Death

21 ^jAmon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22 And he ^kdid what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done. Amon sacrificed to all the images that Manasseh his father had made, and served them. 23 And he did not humble himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but this Amon incurred guilt more and more. 24 And his servants ^lconspired against him and put him to death in his house. 25 But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon. And the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.

Jonah Flees the Presence of the Lord

1 Now the word of the Lord came to ^aJonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to ^bNineveh, that ^cgreat city, and call out against it, for their evil¹ has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, ^daway from the presence of the Lord.

4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and ^ethere was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. 5 Then ^fthe mariners were afraid, and each ^gcried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and ^hwas fast asleep. 6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! ⁱPerhaps the god will give a thought to us, ^jthat we may not perish.”

Jonah Is Thrown into the Sea

7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us ^kcast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the ^lGod of heaven, ^mwho made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard² to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and ⁿlay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have ^odone as it pleased you.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and ^pthe sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men ^qfeared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

A Great Fish Swallows Jonah

17 ³ And the Lord ^rappointed⁴ a great fish to swallow up Jonah. ^sAnd Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah’s Prayer

1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,

10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the ^asecond time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that ^bgreat city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city,⁵ three days’ journey in breadth.⁶ 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 ^cAnd the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

The People of Nineveh Repent

6 The word reached⁷ the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither ^dman nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them ^ecall out mightily to God. Let everyone ^fturn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 ^gWho knows? ^hGod may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God ⁱrelented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Jonah’s Anger and the Lord’s Compassion

1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,⁸ and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why ^jI made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a ^kgracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, ^lplease take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord God ^mappointed a plant⁹ and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort.¹⁰ So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching ⁿeast wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that ^ogreat city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, ^pand also much cattle?”

Paul’s Ministry to the Church

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am ^yfilling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his ^zbody, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the ^astewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the ^bmystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them ^cGod chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the ^driches of the glory of this ^emystery, which is Christ ^fin you, the ^ghope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone ^hmature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling ⁱwith all his energy that he powerfully ^jworks within me.

1 For I want you to know how great a ^kstruggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be ^lencouraged, being ^mknit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s ⁿmystery, which is Christ, 3 ^oin whom are hidden ^pall the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am ^qabsent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good ^rorder and the ^sfirmness of your faith in Christ.

Alive in Christ

6 Therefore, ^tas you ^ureceived Christ Jesus the Lord, so ^vwalk in him, 7 ^wrooted and ^xbuilt up in him and established in the faith, just as you were ^ytaught, abounding in thanksgiving.