The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday December 14, 2022 (NIV)

Jonah 1-4

Jonah Flees the Presence of the Lord

Now the word of the Lord came to (A)Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to (B)Nineveh, that (C)great city, and call out against it, (D)for their evil[a] has come up before me.” But Jonah (E)rose to flee to (F)Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to (G)Joppa and found a ship going to (H)Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to (I)Tarshish, (J)away from the presence of the Lord.

But (K)the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened (L)to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and (M)each cried out to his god. And (N)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 was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, (O)call out to your god! (P)Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

Jonah Is Thrown into the Sea

And they said to one another, “Come, let us (Q)cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 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?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear (R)the Lord, the God of heaven, (S)who 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 (T)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, (U)for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard[b] 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 (V)lay not on us innocent blood, (W)for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, (X)and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, (Y)and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord (Z)and made vows.

A Great Fish Swallows Jonah

17 [c] And the Lord appointed[d] a great fish to swallow up Jonah. (AA)And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah's Prayer

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

(AB)“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
(AC)out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
(AD)and you heard my voice.
(AE)For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
(AF)all your waves and your billows
passed over me.
(AG)Then I said, ‘I am driven away
from your sight;
(AH)yet I shall again look
upon your holy temple.’
(AI)The waters closed in over me (AJ)to take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God.
When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
(AK)and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
(AL)Those who pay regard to vain idols
(AM)forsake their hope of steadfast love.
(AN)But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
(AO)Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

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

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to (AP)Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now (AQ)Nineveh was an exceedingly great city,[e] three days' journey in breadth.[f] Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (AR)And the people of Nineveh believed God. (AS)They called for a fast and (AT)put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

The People of Nineveh Repent

The word reached[g] the king of Nineveh, and (AU)he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, (AV)and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, (AW)“By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor (AX)beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and (AY)beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. (AZ)Let everyone turn from his evil way and from (BA)the violence that is in his hands. (BB)Who knows? God may turn and relent (BC)and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

10 When God saw what they did, (BD)how they turned from their evil way, (BE)God relented 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

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,[h] and (BF)he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? (BG)That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a (BH)gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and (BI)relenting from disaster. (BJ)Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, (BK)for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, (BL)“Do you do well to be angry?”

Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and (BM)made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the Lord God appointed a plant[i] and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort.[j] So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching (BN)east wind, (BO)and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he (BP)was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, (BQ)“It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, (BR)“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 (BS)Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much (BT)cattle?”

Footnotes:

  1. Jonah 1:2 The same Hebrew word can mean evil or disaster, depending on the context; so throughout Jonah
  2. Jonah 1:13 Hebrew the men dug in [their oars]
  3. Jonah 1:17 Ch 2:1 in Hebrew
  4. Jonah 1:17 Or had appointed
  5. Jonah 3:3 Hebrew a great city to God
  6. Jonah 3:3 Or a visit was a three days' journey
  7. Jonah 3:6 Or had reached
  8. Jonah 4:1 Hebrew it was exceedingly evil to Jonah
  9. Jonah 4:6 Hebrew qiqayon, probably the castor oil plant; also verses 7, 9, 10
  10. Jonah 4:6 Or his evil

Cross references:

  1. Jonah 1:1 : 2 Kgs. 14:25
  2. Jonah 1:2 : Gen. 10:11, 12; 2 Kgs. 19:36; Nah. 1:1; Zeph. 2:13; Matt. 12:41; Luke 11:30, 32
  3. Jonah 1:2 : ch. 3:3; 4:11
  4. Jonah 1:2 : Rev. 18:5
  5. Jonah 1:3 : ch. 4:2
  6. Jonah 1:3 : See 1 Kgs. 10:22
  7. Jonah 1:3 : See Josh. 19:46
  8. Jonah 1:3 : See 1 Kgs. 10:22
  9. Jonah 1:3 : See 1 Kgs. 10:22
  10. Jonah 1:3 : Gen. 4:16; [Ps. 139:9, 10]
  11. Jonah 1:4 : [Ps. 107:25]
  12. Jonah 1:4 : 1 Kgs. 22:48; Ps. 48:7
  13. Jonah 1:5 : [Ps. 107:28]
  14. Jonah 1:5 : [Acts 27:18, 19, 38]
  15. Jonah 1:6 : [See ver. 5 above]; [Ps. 107:28]
  16. Jonah 1:6 : [ch. 3:9]
  17. Jonah 1:7 : [Judg. 20:9]
  18. Jonah 1:9 : Rev. 11:13
  19. Jonah 1:9 : Ps. 146:6
  20. Jonah 1:10 : [See ver. 3 above]; Gen. 4:16; [Ps. 139:9, 10]
  21. Jonah 1:12 : [Josh. 7:20]
  22. Jonah 1:14 : Deut. 21:8
  23. Jonah 1:14 : [Ps. 115:3]
  24. Jonah 1:15 : Ps. 65:7; Luke 8:24
  25. Jonah 1:16 : [Gen. 8:20; 31:54]
  26. Jonah 1:16 : See ch. 2:9
  27. Jonah 1:17 : Matt. 12:40; 16:4; [Luke 11:30]
  28. Jonah 2:2 : Ps. 3:4; 120:1; Lam. 3:55
  29. Jonah 2:2 : Ps. 118:5
  30. Jonah 2:2 : Lam. 3:56
  31. Jonah 2:3 : Ps. 88:6, 7
  32. Jonah 2:3 : Ps. 42:7
  33. Jonah 2:4 : Ps. 31:22
  34. Jonah 2:4 : [1 Kgs. 8:35, 38]
  35. Jonah 2:5 : [Lam. 3:54]
  36. Jonah 2:5 : Ps. 69:1
  37. Jonah 2:7 : [2 Chr. 30:27]
  38. Jonah 2:8 : Ps. 31:6; [2 Kgs. 17:15; Jer. 2:5]
  39. Jonah 2:8 : [Jer. 2:13]
  40. Jonah 2:9 : Ps. 50:14; [Hos. 14:2; Heb. 13:15]
  41. Jonah 2:9 : Ps. 3:8
  42. Jonah 3:2 : See ch. 1:2
  43. Jonah 3:3 : [See ver. 2 above]; See ch. 1:2
  44. Jonah 3:5 : [Matt. 12:41; Luke 11:32]
  45. Jonah 3:5 : See 2 Chr. 20:3
  46. Jonah 3:5 : See 2 Sam. 3:31
  47. Jonah 3:6 : [Job 1:20; Ezek. 26:16]
  48. Jonah 3:6 : Job 2:8
  49. Jonah 3:7 : [Dan. 6:26]
  50. Jonah 3:7 : [ch. 4:11; Ps. 36:6; Joel 1:18, 20]
  51. Jonah 3:8 : [See ver. 7 above]; [ch. 4:11; Ps. 36:6; Joel 1:18, 20]
  52. Jonah 3:8 : Jer. 18:11; 36:3
  53. Jonah 3:8 : Isa. 59:6
  54. Jonah 3:9 : 2 Sam. 12:22; Joel 2:14
  55. Jonah 3:9 : Ps. 85:3
  56. Jonah 3:10 : [Jer. 18:8]
  57. Jonah 3:10 : [Jer. 18:8]
  58. Jonah 4:1 : [ver. 4, 9]
  59. Jonah 4:2 : ch. 1:3
  60. Jonah 4:2 : See Joel 2:13
  61. Jonah 4:2 : See Joel 2:13
  62. Jonah 4:3 : [1 Kgs. 19:4]
  63. Jonah 4:3 : [Eccles. 7:1]
  64. Jonah 4:4 : [ver. 1, 9]
  65. Jonah 4:5 : [Neh. 8:15]
  66. Jonah 4:8 : Jer. 18:17
  67. Jonah 4:8 : [Ps. 121:6]
  68. Jonah 4:8 : [Amos 8:13]
  69. Jonah 4:8 : [See ver. 3 above]; [Eccles. 7:1]
  70. Jonah 4:9 : [ver. 1, 4]
  71. Jonah 4:11 : See ch. 1:2
  72. Jonah 4:11 : [ch. 3:7]
English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Revelation 5

The Scroll and the Lamb

Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne (A)a scroll written within and on the back, (B)sealed with seven seals. And (C)I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, (D)the Lion (E)of the tribe of Judah, (F)the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw (G)a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with (H)seven eyes, which are (I)the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders (J)fell down before the Lamb, (K)each holding a harp, and (L)golden bowls full of incense, (M)which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang (N)a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for (O)you were slain, and by your blood (P)you ransomed people for God
from (Q)every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them (R)a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”

11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering (S)myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,

(T)“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”

13 And I heard (U)every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

14 And the four living creatures (V)said, “Amen!” and the elders (W)fell down and worshiped.

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Psalm 133

When Brothers Dwell in Unity

A Song of (A)Ascents. Of David.

133 Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when (B)brothers dwell in unity![a]
It is like the precious (C)oil on (D)the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on (E)the collar of his robes!
It is like (F)the dew of (G)Hermon,
which falls on (H)the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord (I)has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 133:1 Or dwell together
English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Proverbs 29:26-27

26 Many (A)seek the face of a ruler,
but it is from the Lord that a man (B)gets justice.
27 (C)An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous,
but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked.

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.