us, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and he destroyed them not.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly that the Lord destroyed them not, and he was very angry. 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? For I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness. Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. And the Lord said, Doest thou well to be angry? Then 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 shade, till he might see what would become of the city.

And the Lord prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live! 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! And the Lord said, Thou hast had regard for the gourd, for that which thou hast not la

boured, neither madest it to grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: and should not I have regard for 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? For thus it is written:

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? saith the Lord;

And not rather that he should return from his way, and live?

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are my ways higher than your ways,
And my thoughts than your thoughts.

THE PROPHET MICAH

MICAH VI

Wherewith shall I come before the Lord,
And bow myself before the high God?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of

rams,

Or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good;
And what doth the Lord require of thee,
But to do justly, and to love mercy,
And to walk humbly with thy God?

THE PROPHET HABAKKUK

HABAKKUK I, II

Nahum

O Lord, how long shall I cry,

And thou wilt not hear?

Even cry out unto thee of violence,
And thou wilt not hear?

Why dost thou shew me iniquity,

And cause me to behold grievance?

For destruction and violence are before me;
And there is strife, and contention riseth up.
Therefore the law is slacked,

And justice goeth not forth unto victory:
For the wicked doth compass about the right-

eous;

Therefore justice is perverted.

O thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, And that canst not look on iniquity,

Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously,

And holdest thy peace when the wicked devoureth the righteous?

I will stand upon my watch,

And set me upon the tower,

And will look forth to see what he will say unto

me,

And what answer he will give to my complaint.

And the Lord answered me, and said:
Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets,

That he may run that readeth it.

For the vision is yet for the appointed time, And it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: Though it tarry, wait for it;

Because it will surely come, it will not fail. Behold, if his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him;

But the righteous shall live by his faith.

For the Lord is slow to anger, and great in

power,

And will by no means acquit the guilty.

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble;

And he knoweth them that take refuge in him. What do ye devise against the Lord?

He will make an utter end of wickedness:

For the earth shall be filled

With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea.

HABAKKUK III

O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: Art thou displeased against the rivers, O Lord? Is thine anger against the watercourses,

Or thy wrath against the sea,

That thou cleavest the rivers into dry land?

The mountains see thee, they tremble,

And the everlasting mountains are cleft asunder,

The perpetual hills do bow;

The rainflood of waters passeth on;

The deep uttereth his voice,

And lifteth up his hands on high.