The destruc

tion of Edom,

for their pride,

and for their wrong unto Iacob.

OBADIAH

HE vision of Obadiah: Thus saith the Lord GOD, concerning Edom; Wee have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen: Arise yee, and let us rise up against her in battell. Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee: thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rocke, Whose habitation is high, that saith in his heart; Who shall bring me downe to the ground? Though thou exalt thy selfe as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the starres, thence will I bring thee downe, saith the LORD. If theeves came to thee, if robbers by night (how art thou cut off?) would they not have stollen til they had enough? if the grape gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes? How are the things of Esau searched out? how are his hid things sought up? All the men of thy confederacie have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee, have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee: they that eate thy bread have laide a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him. Shal I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? And thy mightie men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.

For thy violence against thy brother Iacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers caried away captive his forces, and forreiners entred into his gates, and cast lots upon Ierusalem, even thou wast as one of them. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that hee became a stranger, neither shouldest thou have reioyced over the children of Iudah in the day of their destruction: neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distresse. Thou shouldest

not have entred into the gate of my people in the day of their calamitie: yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamitie, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamitie. Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crosse way to cut off those of his that did escape, neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remaine in the day of distresse. For the day of the LORD is neere upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall bee done unto thee, thy reward shall returne upon thine owne head. For as ye have drunke upon my holy mountaine, so shall all the heathen drinke continually: yea, they shall drinke, and they shall swallow downe, and they shall bee as though they had not bene.

of Iacob.

But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be The salvation holinesse, and the house of Iacob shall possesse their possessions. and victory And the house of Iacob shall bee a fire, and the house of Ioseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them and devoure them, and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau, for the LORD hath spoken it. And they of the South shall possesse the mount of Esau, and they of the plaine, the Philistines: and they shall possesse the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria, and Beniamin shall possesse Gilead. And the captivitie of this hoste of the children of Israel shall possesse that of the Canaanites even unto Zarephath, and the captivitie of Ierusalem which is in Sepharad, shall possesse the cities of the South. And Saviours shall come up on mount Zion to iudge the mount of Esau, and the kingdome shall be the LORDS.

Ionah sent to Nineveh, fleeth to Tarshish.

He is bewrayed by a tempest,

throwen into the sea,

ΙΟΝΑ Η

CHAPTER I

OW the word of the LORD came unto Ionah the
sonne of Amittai, saying, Arise, goe to Nineveh m
that great citie, and cry against it: for their
wickednes is come up before me. But Ionah
rose up to flee unto Tarshish, from the pres-
ence of the LORD, and went downe to Ioppa,
and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he
payed the fare thereof, and went downe into
it, to goe with them unto Tarshish from the

presence of the LORD.

But the LORD sent out a great winde into the sea, and there was a mightie tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the Mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast foorth the wares that were in the ship, into the sea, to lighten it of them: but Ionah was gone downe into the sides of the ship, and hee lay, and was fast asleepe. 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 wil thinke V upon us, that we perish not. 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 Ionah. Then said they unto him, Tel us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evill is upon us: What is thine occupation? and whence commest thou? What is thy countrey? and of what people art thou? And hee said unto them, I am an Hebrew, and I feare the LORD the God of heaven, which hath made the sea, and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and saide 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.)

Then said they unto him, What shall we doe unto thee, that the sea may be calme unto us? (for the sea wrought and was tempestuous.) And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast mee foorth

I

into the sea; so shall the sea be calme unto you: for I know that CHAPTER for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Neverthelesse, the men rowed hard to bring it to the land, but they could not for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them. Wherefore! they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, We beseech thee, let us not perish for this mans life, and lay not upon us, innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee. So they tooke up Ionah, and cast him foorth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vowes.

Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Ionah, and swallowed and Ionah was in the belly of the fish three dayes, and three by a fish. nights.

CHAPTER II

THEN Ionah prayed unto the LORD his God, out of the fishes belly, The prayer and said,

I

CRIED by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD,
And hee heard mee;

Out of the belly of hell cried I,

And thou heardest my voyce.

For thou hadst cast mee into the deepe, in the middest of

the Seas,

And the floods compassed me about:

All thy billowes and thy waves passed over me.

Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight;

Yet I will looke againe toward thy holy Temple.

The waters compassed mee about even to the soule;
The depth closed mee round about;

The weedes were wrapt about my head.

I went downe to the bottomes of the mountaines :

The earth with her barres was about me for ever:

Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD
my God.

When my soule fainted within mee, I remembred the Lord,
And my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy Temple.
They that observe lying vanities,

Forsake their owne mercy.

But I wil sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving,
I will pay that that I have vowed:

Salvation is of the LORD.

And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Ionah

upon the drie land.

of Ionah.

Hee is delivered from the fish.

CHAPTER
III

Ionah sent
againe,
preacheth to
the Ninevites.

Upon their repentance,

God repenteth.

A

CHAPTER III

ND the word of the LORD came unto Ionah the second time, saying; Arise, goe unto Nineveh that great citie, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Ionah arose and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD: now, Nineveh was an exceeding great citie of three dayes iourney. And Ionah began to enter into the citie a dayes iourney, and hee cryed, and said; Yet fourtie dayes, and Niniveh shalbe overthrowen.

So the people of Nineveh beleeved God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackecloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 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 sate 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 flockem taste any thing; let them not feede, nor drinke water. But let man and beast be covered with sackecloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turne every one from his evill way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turne and repent, and turne away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

And God saw their workes, that they turned from their evill way, and God repented of the evill that hee had sayd, that he would doe unto them, and he did it not.

Β'

CHAPTER IIII

UT it displeased Ionah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the LORD, and sayd, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my countrey? Therefore I fledde before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and mercifull, slow to anger, and of great kindnesse, and repentest thee of the evill. Therefore now, O LORD, Take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die then to live.

Then said the LORD, Daest thou well to be angry? So Ionah went out of the citie, and sate on the East side of the city, and there made him a boothe, and sate under it in the shadow, till hee might see what would become of the citie. And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Ionah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his griefe.