shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

7 Surely the Lord GoD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?

9 Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof.

10 For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.

11 Therefore thus saith the Lord Gon, An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.

12 Thus saith the LORD, As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch.

13 Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,

14 That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Beth-el; and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.

15 And I will smite the winter

house with the summer-house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD.

CHAPTER IV.

HEAR this word, ye kine of

Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.

2 The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fish-hooks.

3 And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD.

4 Come to Beth-el, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:

5 And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free-offerings; for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GoD.

6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, Baith the LORD.

7 And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.

Ver. 7. The marginal translation is, And shall not the Lord do somewhat?**

Ver. 1. Psal. xxii. 12; Ezek. xxxix. 18.-Ver. 3. Ye shall cast them into the palace: or, according to the marginal translation, Ye

8 So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Loud.

9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens, and your vineyards, and your fig trees, and your olive-trees increased, the palmer-worm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

10 1 have sent among you the pestilence, after the manner of Egypt: your young men have 1 slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.

CHAPTER V.

HEAR ye this word which I take

up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel

2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

3 For thus saith the Lord GOD, The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.

4 For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

5 But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought.

6 Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el.

7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; The LORD is his name:

9 That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the for

tress.

10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye

shall cast away the things of the palace. Ver. 9. Deut. xxviii. 22.

Ver. 5. Bethel, &c. were the chief places of the idolatrous worship, and were the first, therefore, to be punished.-Ver. 8. Job. ix.

take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in then; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. 12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.

13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.

14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord GoD of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus, Wailing shall be in all streets : and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.

18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.

19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

20 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

21 I hate, I despise your feastdays, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.

22 Though ye offer me burntofferings, and your meat-offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fat beasts.

23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.

24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

26 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your God, which ye made to yourselves :

27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.

CHAPTER VI.

WOE to them that are at ease in

Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named

9; xxxviii. 31.-Ver. 18. This is a remarkable passage. The Jews were always eagerly looking for the latter days and the coming of the Lord; but when the Lord did come, they only plunged deeper into the darkness which enveloped them, and confusion, not peace, was their lot. The same will be the case at the last day many who have pretended to look for it with joyful anticipations, will find it a day of sorrow and despair. Ver. 26. 1 Kings, xi. 33.-Ver. 27. Beyond Damascus: that is, into Assyria, Media, and Persia.

Ver. 1. In Zion: that is, in

chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!

2 Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?

3 Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence

to come near;

4 That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;

5 That chant to the sound of the riol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David;

6 That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the amiction of Joseph.

7 Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.

8 The Lord God hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD, the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city, with all that is therein.

9 And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.

10 And a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue; for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD.

11 For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.

12 Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock :

13 Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?

14 But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD, the God of

the kingdom of Judah. Ver. 2. Calneh: that is, Ctesiphon, or Seleucia, but it may here be taken for the kingdom of Babylon at large. Hamath the great is supposed to have been either a city situated at the foot of mount Libanus, Antioch in Syria, or Epiphania. The Israelites are thus directed to view the various celebrated cities here named, that they may compare them with their own country, and thence learning the mercies they have received, be convinced of the righteousness of God in punishing them for their ingratitude. - Ver. 10. This is a very striking allusion to the state of a house during a plague. A near relation appears at the door, and having removed the putrefying remains of those whom he knows to have perished, he asks, with a low and terrified voice, whether there are any left. this the watcher of the dead answers from within, that he has searched the hidden recesses of the building, and found none besides those already carried out.

To

hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of the wilderness.

CHAPTER VII.

Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daugh ters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into eaptivity forth of his land.

growth after the king's mowings.

2 And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise for he is small.

3 The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LoRD.

4 Thus hath the Lord GoD shewed unto me; and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.

5 Then said I, O Lord Gor, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.

6 The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD.

7 Thus he shewed me; and, behold, the LORD stood upon a wall made by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand.

8 And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? and I said, A plumb-line. Then said the LORD, Behold, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more.

9 And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Beth-el, sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.

11 For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive

out of their own land.

12 Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:

13 But prophesy not again any more at Beth-el: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court.

14 Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore-fruit:

15 And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

16 Now therefore hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.

17 Therefore thus saith the LORD,

Ver. 1. By the word grashoppers in this place we may understand locusts, which, devouring the crop that comes up after that of the early summer, and on which the husbandman chiefly depends for the provision of the winter, spread everywhere the fear of famine. The first mowings were reserved for the flocks and herds belonging to the king. Ver. 8. Gen. xlvi. I. Ver. 9. 2 Kings, xv. 10.-Ver. 10. 1 Kings, xii. 32; 2 Kings, xiv. 23. -Ver. 13. Chapel, or sanctuary.Ver. 14. 1 Kings, xx. 35.

CHAPTER VIII.

unto me; and behold a basket of summer-fruit.

2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer-fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.

3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GoD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.

4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

5 Saying, When will the newmoon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit ?

6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

7 The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.

8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:

10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation: and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.

14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy God, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

CHAPTER IX.

I SAW the LORD standing upon

the altar and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away; and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.

Ver. 2. Ezek. vii. 2.- Ver. 11. 1 Sam. iii. 1; Ps. lxxiv. 9. A most awful prediction, but regarded by few as half so terrible as it in reality is.

2 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:

3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:

4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

5 And the Lord GoD of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn; and it shall rise up wholly like a flood, and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.

6 It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded

Ver. 2. Ps. cxxxix. 8; Job, xx. 6; Jer. li. 53. Ver. 12. Numb. xxiv. 18.

his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; The LORD is his

name.

7 Are ve not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir P

8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD.

9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.

11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is

fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:

12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.

13 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall meit.

14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.

OBADIAH.

THE vision of Obadiah.

Thus

saith the Lord GoD concerning Edom, We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.

2 Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?

4 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

5 If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?

6 How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!

7 All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.

Ver. 1. Obadiah, it is supposed, delivered this prophecy soon after the destruction of Jerusalem, and the Edomites were probably loudly rejoicing in its downfall when the vision of their own ruin was thus presented to the prophet. Ver. 3. There is great force and beauty in the language of Obadiah. Edom was proudly confident in the strength of his rocky fastnesses, and imagined that he might safely defy

ever.

11 In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.

12 But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.

13 Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity:

14 Neither shouldest thou have stood in the cross-way, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.

the power of his enemies while intrenched within the barrier of the mountains; but his trust was vain-the robber might spoil himhis allies were confederating against him and, above all, the Lord had determined to punish him, and who can escape when He

15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; thy reward shall return upon thine own head.

16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually; yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.

17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau: for the LORD hath spoken it.

19 And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria; and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

20 And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.

21 And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD's.

pursues?- Ver. 10. Gen. xxvii. 41.

Ver. 15. Ezek. xxxv. 15. Ver. 16. Jer. xxv. 29; xlix. 12; Joel, iii. 17. Ver. 20. 1 Kings, xvii. 9, 10. Commentators are not able to determine what country is to be understood by Sepharad: some conjecture that Spain was intend. ed.

CHAPTER I.

NOW the word of the LORD came

unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before

me.

3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

4 But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them: but Jonah was gone. down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

6 So the shipmaster came to him. and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.

7 And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

8 Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us: what is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?

9 And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.

10 Then were the men exceed. ingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? (for the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.)

11Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? (for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.)

12 And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.

Ver. 1. 2 Kings, xiv. 25. Jonah was born at Jath-hepher in the land of Zabulon, and supposed to be the same as Jotapeta. Ver. 4. Thus it must ever be with those whom God has appointed to serve him. In vain will they shrink from the call, in vain will they seek by flight to escape the difficulties or dangers to which they may thereby seem exposed. Their only means of safety exists in their performing with joyful devotedness the whole will of their heavenly Master. —

cast him forth into the sea; and the sea ceased from her raging.

16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made Vows.

17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

CHAPTER II.

THEN Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,

2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed

over me.

4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

5 The waters compassed me about even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.

6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.

7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD; and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I

Ver. 17. Nothing can be weaker than the doubts and questionings which the sceptical have put forth on the subject of this verse, for he who is Lord of all nature could certainly, if he chose, so order things as to perform such a miracle as that here described. If no leviathan existed that could receive a man through its jaws, could not the Almighty create one? and in whatever way the huge monster was provided, he could certainly, as with him are the issues of life, keep the man whom he had his hand upon for especial purposes awake and breathing in its belly. Our Lord calls the fish a whale, but it is not necessary to suppose that he meant thereby the precise species which we are accustomed to describe by that name. The term was anciently applied in a very wide sense to any kind of large fish.

Ver. 2. Ps. cxx. 1. How sublime, how awful is this wonderful prayer!-Ver. 3. Ps. xlii. 7.- Ver. 4. Ps. xxxi. 22. Ver. 5. Ps. lxix.

unto Jonah the second time,

saying,

2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. (Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey.)

4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh, by the deeree of the king and his uobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing; let them not feed, nor drink water:

8 But let man and beast be covered with saekeloth, and cry mightily unto God; yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

CHAPTER IV.

BUT it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

1; Lam. iii. 54. Ver. 6. Ps. xvi, 10. Ver. 8. Ps. xxxi. 6-Ver. 9. Ps. 1. 11-23; exvi. 17.

Ver. 3. Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was founded by Nimrod, see Gen. x. 11; but it remained a small and insignificant place till about twelve hundred years before. Christ, when Ninus the Second improved and extended it till it became the wonder of the world. According to the measurements given of this magnificent city by the most learned geographers, it was 150 stadia long and 90 stadia broad, and ten stadia make an English mile. The walls which enclosed this space were 100 feet high and ten broad, and were surmounted with towers rising to the enormous height of 200 feet. Ver. 10. How wise was the kinghow teachable the people - how merciful the Almighty!

Ver. 1. This chapter affords a most striking instance of the selfish

And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me: for it is better for me to die than to live.

4 Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?

ness of the human heart: all men feel and act like Jonah till God renew and sanctify them by his Holy Spirit.

5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.

6 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.

7 But God prepared a worm, when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that

he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd ? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.

10 Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:

11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

MICAH.

CHAPTER I.

THE word of the LORD that came

to Micah the Morasthite, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord Gon be witness against you, the LORD from his holy temple.

3 For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.

4 And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.

5 For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem ?

6 Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard; and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.

7 And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burnt with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered if of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.

8 Therefore I will wail and howl; I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.

9 For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

10 Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust.

Ver. 1. Morasthi, the birth-place of Micah, was a village situated near the city of Eleutheropolis, in the southern quarter of Judah. The language of Micah is singularly bold and fervent. Ver. 10. Of Aphrah: that is, of dust, the meaning of the word Aphrah. The

11 Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Beth-ezel; he shall receive of you his standing.

12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good; but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem.

13 O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast: she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion; for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.

14 Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moresheth-gath: the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.

15 Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah : he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel.

16 Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.

CHAPTER II.

WOE to them that devise ini

quity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

2 And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

3 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall

town of that name was in the tribe of Benjamin. Ver. 11. Saphir was a village in the mountains between Eleutheropolis and Ascalon. Zaanan was a town belonging to Judah, or, as some think, to Naphtali. Beth-ezel means a house of separation, and is one of the names of Beth-el. His standing: that is, his food, his support. -Ver. 12. Maroth, a place in the tribe of Judah. Ver. 13. Josh. xv. 39; 2 Kings, xviii. 13; Jer. xxxiv. 7. Ver. 14. Moreshethgath, a city which was taken by the Benjamites from Gath. - Ver. 15. Mareshah and Aduliam were both cities of Judah.

not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil.

4 In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled; he hath changed the portion of my people : how hath he removed it from me! turning away he hath divided our fields.

5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD.

6 Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.

70 thou that art named The house of Jacob, is the Spirit of the LORD straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?

8 Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war.

9 The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever.

10 Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.

11 If a man, walking in the spirit and falsehood, do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.

12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the reninant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.

13 The breaker is come up before them they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it; and their King shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.