^15 (A)And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and ^(B)you shall eat and be full. ¹⁶ Take care ^(C)lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and ^(D)serve other gods and worship them; ¹⁷ then ^(E)the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he ^(F)will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and ^(G)you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.

^18 (H)“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and ^(I)you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ¹⁹ You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ^20 (J)You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, ^21 (K)that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, ^(L)as long as the heavens are above the earth. ²² For if ^(M)you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and ^(N)holding fast to him, ²³ then the Lord ^(O)will drive out all these nations before you, and you will ^(P)dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. ^24 (Q)Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall be ^(R)from the wilderness to^[a] the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea. ^25 (S)No one shall be able to stand against you. The Lord your God will lay ^(T)the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread, ^(U)as he promised you.

^26 (V)“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: ^27 (W)the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, ²⁸ and ^(X)the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, ^(Y)to go after other gods that you have not known. ²⁹ And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set ^(Z)the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰ Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the ^(AA)Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside ^(AB)the oak^[b] of Moreh? ³¹ For you are ^(AC)to cross over the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you. And when you possess it and live in it, ³² you shall be careful ^(AD)to do all the statutes and the rules that I am setting before you today.

Rebuilding Begins Anew

5 Now the prophets, ^(A)Haggai and ^(B)Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. ^2 (C)Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and ^(D)Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were ^(E)with them, supporting them.

³ At the same time ^(F)Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and their associates came to them and spoke to them thus: ^(G)“Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?” ⁴ They also asked them this:^[a] “What are the names of the men who are building this building?” ⁵ But ^(H)the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report should reach Darius and then an answer be returned by letter concerning it.

Tattenai's Letter to King Darius

⁶ This is a copy of the letter that ^(I)Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and his associates, the ^(J)governors who were in the province Beyond the River, sent to Darius the king. ⁷ They sent him a report, in which was written as follows: “To Darius the king, all peace. ⁸ Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands. ⁹ Then we asked those elders and spoke to them thus: ^(K)‘Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’ ¹⁰ We also asked them their names, for your information, that we might write down the names of their leaders.^{[b] 11} And this was their reply to us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, ^(L)which a great king of Israel built and ^(M)finished. ^12 (N)But because our fathers had angered the God of heaven, he ^(O)gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia. ^13 (P)However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt. ^14 (Q)And the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, these Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was ^(R)Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor; ¹⁵ and he said to him, “Take these vessels, go and put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site.” ¹⁶ Then this ^(S)Sheshbazzar came and ^(T)laid the foundations of the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been in building, and it is ^(U)not yet finished.’ ¹⁷ Therefore, if it seems good to the king, ^(V)let search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon, to see whether a decree was issued by Cyrus the king for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem. And let the king send us his pleasure in this matter.”

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ² “Arise, go to ^(A)Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” ³ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now ^(B)Nineveh was an exceedingly great city,^[a] three days' journey in breadth.^{[b] 4} Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” ^5 (C)And the people of Nineveh believed God. ^(D)They called for a fast and ^(E)put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

The People of Nineveh Repent

⁶ The word reached^[c] the king of Nineveh, and ^(F)he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, ^(G)and sat in ashes. ⁷ And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, ^(H)“By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor ^(I)beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, ⁸ but let man and ^(J)beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. ^(K)Let everyone turn from his evil way and from ^(L)the violence that is in his hands. ^9 (M)Who knows? God may turn and relent ^(N)and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

¹⁰ When God saw what they did, ^(O)how they turned from their evil way, ^(P)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

4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,^[d] and ^(Q)he was angry. ² And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? ^(R)That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a ^(S)gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and ^(T)relenting from disaster. ^3 (U)Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, ^(V)for it is better for me to die than to live.” ⁴ And the Lord said, ^(W)“Do you do well to be angry?”

⁵ Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and ^(X)made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. ⁶ Now the Lord God appointed a plant^[e] and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort.^[f] So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. ⁷ But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. ⁸ When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching ^(Y)east wind, ^(Z)and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he ^(AA)was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, ^(AB)“It is better for me to die than to live.” ⁹ But God said to Jonah, ^(AC)“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 ^(AD)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 ^(AE)cattle?”

⁷ Show yourself in all respects to be ^(A)a model of good works, and in your teaching ^(B)show integrity, ^(C)dignity, ⁸ and ^(D)sound speech that cannot be condemned, ^(E)so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. ^9 (F)Bondservants^[a] are to be submissive to their own masters ^(G)in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, ¹⁰ not pilfering, ^(H)but showing all good faith, ^(I)so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

¹¹ For ^(J)the grace of God ^(K)has appeared, bringing salvation ^(L)for all people, ¹² training us to renounce ungodliness and ^(M)worldly passions, and ^(N)to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in ^(O)the present age, ^13 (P)waiting for our blessed ^(Q)hope, the ^(R)appearing of the glory of our great ^(S)God and Savior Jesus Christ, ^14 (T)who gave himself for us to ^(U)redeem us from all lawlessness and ^(V)to purify for himself ^(W)a people for his own possession who are ^(X)zealous for good works.

¹⁵ Declare these things; exhort and ^(Y)rebuke with all authority. ^(Z)Let no one disregard you.