One Year Bible.

Jonah’s Anger at the LORD’s Compassion

¹Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and he became angry. ²So he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion — One who relents from sending disaster. ³And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

⁴But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”

⁵Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of it, where he made himself a shelter and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city. ⁶So the LORD God appointed a vine, and it grew up to provide shade over Jonah’s head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant.

⁷When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered.

⁸As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint and wished to die, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

⁹Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?”

“I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”

¹⁰But the LORD said, “You cared about the plant, which you neither tended nor made grow. It sprang up in a night and perished in a night. ¹¹So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?”

Grace and Perseverance

¹You therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ²And the things that you have heard me say among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be qualified to teach others as well.

³Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴A soldier refrains from entangling himself in civilian affairs, in order to please the one who enlisted him. ⁵Likewise, a competitor does not receive the crown unless he competes according to the rules. ⁶The hardworking farmer should be the first to partake of the crops. ⁷Consider what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all things.

⁸Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David, as proclaimed by my gospel, ⁹for which I suffer to the extent of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God cannot be chained! ¹⁰For this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

¹¹This is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with Him,

we will also live with Him;

¹²if we endure,

we will also reign with Him;

if we deny Him,

He will also deny us;

¹³if we are faithless,

He remains faithful,

for He cannot deny Himself.

The Lord’s Approved Workman

¹⁴Remind the believers of these things, charging them before God to avoid quarreling over words, which succeeds only in leading the listeners to ruin.

¹⁵Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth.

¹⁶But avoid irreverent, empty chatter, which will only lead to more ungodliness, ¹⁷and the talk of such men will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, ¹⁸who have deviated from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already occurred, and they undermine the faith of some.

¹⁹Nevertheless, God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord must turn away from iniquity.”

²⁰A large house contains not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some indeed are for honorable use, but others are for common use. ²¹So if anyone cleanses himself of what is unfit, he will be a vessel for honor: sanctified, useful to the Master, and prepared for every good work.

²²Flee from youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, together with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

²³But reject foolish and ignorant speculation, for you know that it breeds quarreling. ²⁴And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing. ²⁵He must gently reprove those who oppose him, in the hope that God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth. ²⁶Then they will come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive to his will.

The Fifth Trumpet

¹Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and it was given the key to the pit of the Abyss. ²The star opened the pit of the Abyss, and smoke rose out of it like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit.

³And out of the smoke, locusts descended on the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth. ⁴They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵The locusts were not given power to kill them, but only to torment them for five months, and their torment was like the stinging of a scorpion. ⁶In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will escape them.

⁷And the locusts looked like horses prepared for battle, with something like crowns of gold on their heads; and their faces were like the faces of men. ⁸They had hair like that of women, and teeth like those of lions. ⁹They also had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the roar of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. ¹⁰They had tails with stingers like scorpions, which had the power to injure people for five months. ¹¹They were ruled by a king, the angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek it is Apollyon.

¹²The first woe has passed. Behold, two woes are still to follow.

The Sixth Trumpet

¹³Then the sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God ¹⁴saying to the sixth angel with the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”

¹⁵So the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. ¹⁶And the number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number.

¹⁷Now the horses and riders in my vision looked like this: The riders had breastplates the colors of fire, sapphire, and sulfur. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths proceeded fire, smoke, and sulfur. ¹⁸A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur that proceeded from their mouths. ¹⁹For the power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; indeed, their tails were like snakes, having heads with which to inflict harm.

²⁰Now the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. ²¹Furthermore, they did not repent of their murder, sorcery, sexual immorality, and theft.