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III.

Against the priests for their complaints of wearisome service and the unprofitableness of keeping the law. The mission of God's messenger. The coming of the day of God.

1.

YE have wearied the LORD with your words; Yet ye say, "Wherein have we wearied him?'

In that ye say, "Every one of them that do evil

Is good in the sight of the LORD, and in them he hath delight; Or, "Where is the God of judgment?"

2. Behold, I will send my messenger,

And he shall prepare the way before me;

And the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly ccme,
3. And I will come near to you to judgment:
And I will be a swift witness

Against adulterers, and against false swearers,
And against those who defraud the hireling of his hire,
And oppress the widow and the fatherless,
And turn aside the stranger from his right,
And fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

4. For I am the LORD; I change not;

Therefore, ye sons of Jacob, are ye not consumed.

5. Ye have said, "It is a vain thing to serve God;

And, "What profit is it that we have kept his ordinances,
And that we have walked mournfully before the LORD, of hosts?

6. Therefore we call the proud happy ;

Yea, they that do wickedness are built

up;

Yea, they tempt God, and are delivered.'

7. Then they that feared the LORD spake to one another, And the LORD heard;

And a book of remembrance was written before him,

For them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his

8. And they shall be to me, saith the LORD of hosts, In the day which I appoint, as my own possession; And I will spare them,

As a father spareth his own son that serveth him. 9. Then shall ye return and see

name.

What is the difference between the righteous and the wicked, Between him who serveth God, and him who serveth him not. (Chap. II; 17-Chap. III; 1-5-6-14-18.) 10. For, behold, the day cometh. which shall burn as an oven; Then shall the proud, and all that do wickedness, be stubble; And the day that cometh shall burn them up, It shall leave them neither root nor branch.

11. But for you that fear my name, Shall the sun of salvation arise With healing under his wings.

12. Remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, My statutes and precepts!

13. Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet.

Before the day of the LORD come, the great and terrible day. 14. He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, And the heart of the children to their fathers.

(Chap. IV; 1-2, 4-6.)

JOEL

About 278-250 B. C. E.

The day of judgment is near, but repentance can avert the evil. Promise of spiritual enlightenment. The valley of judgment.

1.

BLOW ye the trumpet in Zion;

Sound an alarm in my holy mountain !

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble!

For the day of the LORD cometh, for it is near!

A day of darkness, and gloominess,

A day of clouds, and thick darkness.

2. As the morning light spreadeth itself upon the mountains, There cometh a numerous people and a strong;

Like them there have been none of old time,

And after them there shall not be,

Even to the years of many gen rations.

3. A fire devoureth before them,

And behind them a flame burneth;

The land is as the garden of Eden before them.
And behind them a desolate wilderness!
Yea, nothing escapeth them.

(Chap. I; 1-3.)

4. Yet now saith the LORD:

5.

Turn ye to me with all your heart,

And rend your hearts, and not your garments,
And turn to the LORD your God,

For he is gracious and merciful,

Slow to anger, and of great kindness,
And repenteth of a threatened evil.

And it shall come to pass afterward,

That I will pour out my spirit upon al flesh;

(Chap. II; 12-13.)

And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy;
Your old men shall dream dreams,

Your young men shall see visions.

6. Upon the men-servants also, and upon the handmaids, Will I pour out my spirit in those days.

7. Proclaim ye this among the nations: "Prepare war! Stir up the mighty ones!

(Chap. II; 28.)

Let all the warriors draw near; let them come up!"

8. Beat your ploughshares into swords,

And your pruning-hooks into spears;

Let the weak say, I am strong!

9. Assemble yourselves and come, all ye nations round about; Gather yourselves together!

Thither, O LORD, bring down thy mighty ones!

10. Let the nations rise and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat! For there will I sit to judge all the nations around.

11.

Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe ;

Come and tread, for the wine-press is full;

The vats overflow; for their wickedness is great!

12. The multitudes, the multitudes in the valley of judgment! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of judgment. 13. The sun and the moon are darkened,

14.

And the stars withdraw their shining.

The heavens and the earth shall shake;
But the LORD will be a refuge to his people;
A-strong-hold to the sons of Israel.

15. Then shall ye know that I am the LORD your God,
Dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain;
And Jerusalem shall be my holy seat.

(Chap. III; 9-17.)

JONAH.

About 250., B. C. E.

Jonah's second commission to Nineveh.

love.

The universality of God's

1. AND the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second 2. time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim 3. to her the words which I shall speak to thee. And Jonah arose

and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. 4. Now Nineveh was through God a great city, three days' 5. journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried out and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

6.

And the men of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to 7. the least of them. For when the matter came to the king of

Nineveh, he arose from his throne, and put off his mantle and 8. covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, 9. nor drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God. Yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. 10. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

11.

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

12. But this displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very 13. angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, Ah! O LORD,

was not this what I said, when I was yet in my own country? 14. Therefore I made haste to flee to Tarshish. For I knew that thou art a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in mercy, and that thou repentest of a threatened evil. And 15. now O LORD; take, I pray thee, my life from me! for it is better 16. for me to die than to live. And the LORD said, Is it right that thou shouldst be angry?

17. Now Jonah had gone out of the city, and had sat on the seat side of the city, and had made himself a booth there, and had sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become

18. of the city. And the LORD, appointed a gourd; and it grew up over Jonah to be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his distress. And Jonah was exceedingly glad of the gourd. 19. But God appointed a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd so that it withered. And when the sun arose, God appointed a sultry east wind; and the sun 20. beat upon the head of Jonah, and he was faint, and he asked for himself death, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. 21. And God said to Jonah, Is it right that thou shouldst be angry for the gourd? And he said, It is right that I should be angry, 22. even to death. And the LORD said, Thou hast had pity on the gourd for which thou hast not labored, and which thou madest not to grow, which grew up in a night and perished in a night; 23. and should not I spare Ninevah, the great city, wherein are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also many cattle? (Chap. III and IV.)

́ 1.

DANIEL.

About 164 B. C. E.

I.

Daniel's captivity and elevation.

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, against 2. Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the LORD gave Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, into his hand, with part of the vessels of 3. the house of God; and he carried them into the land of Shinar,

to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the 4. treasure-house of his god. And the king commanded Ash5. penaz, the master of his palace, that he should bring certain of the sons of Israel of the king's race, and of the princes; youths in whom was no blemish, and well favored, and skillfull in all wisdom, and having knowledge and intelligence and strength, to stand as servants in the king's palace, and be taught the writ6. ing and the language of the Chaldæans. Now among these were, of the sons of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and

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