Today's Readings and Stuff -- Monday, 14 December 2020

A day filled with some deep thoughts.  Subterranean actually.  Not happy ones, but not despairing either.  Just deep.

Doesn't help that in a few hours, I will have attained -- Lord willing of course -- that mark of "threescore and ten years" upon this earth.  Never expected to make it this far.  How much longer has been allotted is unknown.  We shall see.  I believe He has yet some purpose for this.  Hope I do His will. 

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Did some looking up on this.  Some disagreement about just where this Tarshish was.  Most think it was on the coast of Southern Spain, on the Atlantic side of the strait.  But several scholars think it may have been in the British isles, probably Wales due to their tin mines.  In either case, by the ships of the era, a very long way from Nineveh, present day Mosul, Iraq.

JONAH 1

Jonah’s Flight

1The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai:  2“Get up!  Go to the great city  of Nineveh  and preach against it,  because their wickedness  has confronted  Me.”  3However, Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish  from the Lord’s presence.  He went down  to Joppa  and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, from the Lord’s presence.

4Then the Lord hurled  a violent wind on the sea,  and such a violent storm arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break apart. 5The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his god.  They threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load.  Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel and had stretched out and fallen into a deep sleep. 

6The captain approached him and said, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up! Call to your god.   Maybe this god will consider us,  and we won’t perish.”

7“Come on! ” the sailors said to each other. “Let’s cast lots.  Then we’ll know who is to blame for this trouble we’re in.” So they cast lots, and the lot singled out Jonah.  8Then they said to him, “Tell us who is to blame for this trouble we’re in.  What is your business  and where are you from? What is your country and what people are you from? ”

9He answered them, “I’m a Hebrew.  I worship  Yahweh,  the God of the heavens,  who made the sea  and the dry land.”

10Then the men were even more afraid and said to him, “What is this you’ve done? ” The men knew he was fleeing from the Lord’s presence,  because he had told them. 11So they said to him, “What should we do to you to calm this sea that’s against us? ” For the sea was getting worse and worse.

12He answered them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea  so it may quiet down for you, for I know that I’m to blame  for this violent storm that is against you.” 13Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they couldn’t because the sea was raging against them more and more.

14So they called out to the Lord:  “Please, Yahweh, don’t let us perish because of this man’s life, and don’t charge us with innocent blood! For You, Yahweh, have done just as You pleased.”  15Then they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.  16The men feared the Lord  even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. 

17Now the Lord had appointed a huge fish  to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in  the fish three days and three nights.

JONAH 2

Jonah’s Prayer

1Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside  the fish: 

2I called to the Lord in my distress, 

and He answered me.

I cried out for help in the belly of Sheol; 

You heard my voice. 

3You threw me into the depths, 

into the heart of the seas, 

and the current  overcame me.

All Your breakers and Your billows swept over me. 

4But I said: I have been banished 

from Your sight, 

yet I will look once more 

toward Your holy temple. 

5The waters engulfed me up to the neck;  

the watery depths overcame me;

seaweed was wrapped around my head. 

6I sank to the foundations of the mountains; 

the earth with its prison bars closed behind me forever! 

But You raised my life  from the Pit, Lord my God! 

7As my life was fading away, 

I remembered Yahweh. 

My prayer came to You, 

to Your holy temple. 

8Those who cling to worthless idols 

forsake faithful love, 

9but as for me, I will sacrifice  to You

with a voice of thanksgiving. 

I will fulfill  what I have vowed.

Salvation  is from the Lord! 

10Then the Lord commanded the fish,  and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

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REVELATION 11

The Two Witnesses

1Then I was given a measuring reed  like a rod,  with these words: “Go  and measure God’s sanctuary and the altar, and count those who worship there. 2But exclude the courtyard outside the sanctuary.  Don’t measure it, because it is given to the nations,   and they will trample the holy city  for 42 months.  3I will empower  my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, , dressed in sackcloth.  ”  4These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord  of the earth.  5If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and consumes their enemies;  if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. 6These men have the power to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the days of their prophecy.  They also have power over the waters to turn them into blood  and to strike the earth with every plague whenever they want. 

The Witnesses Martyred

7When they finish their testimony, the beast   that comes up out of the abyss  will make war with them, conquer them, and kill them. 8Their dead bodies   will lie in the public square  of the great city,  which prophetically  is called Sodom  and Egypt,  where also their Lord was crucified. 9And representatives from  the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations  will view their bodies for three and a half days and not permit their bodies to be put into a tomb.  10Those who live on the earth will gloat  over them and celebrate and send gifts to one another because these two prophets brought judgment to those who live on the earth.

The Witnesses Resurrected

11But after 3 1/2 days, the breath  of life  from God entered them, and they stood on their feet. So great fear fell on those who saw them. 12Then they heard  a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” They went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies watched them.  13At that moment a violent earthquake took place,  a tenth of the city fell, and 7,000 people were killed in the earthquake. The survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14The second woe  has passed. Take note: The third woe is coming quickly!

The Seventh Trumpet

15The seventh angel blew his trumpet,  and there were loud voices in heaven saying:

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom

of our Lord and of His Messiah,

and He will reign forever and ever! 

16The 24 elders, who were seated before God on their thrones, fell facedown and worshiped God, 17saying:

We thank You, Lord God, the Almighty,

who is and who was,  

because You have taken Your great power

and have begun to reign. 

18The nations were angry, 

but Your wrath has come.

The time has come

for the dead to be judged

and to give the reward

to Your servants the prophets, 

to the saints, and to those who fear Your name,

both small and great, 

and the time has come to destroy

those who destroy the earth.

19God’s sanctuary in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant  appeared in His sanctuary. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings of thunder,  an earthquake,  and severe hail.