Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Death.

Jonah’s Prayer

2 ^[a]Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God ^(A)from the stomach of the fish, ² and he said,

¹⁰ Then the Lord commanded the ^(U)fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

Nineveh Repents

3 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ² “Arise, go to ^(V)Nineveh the great city and ^(W)proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.” ³ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was ^[j]an ^(X)exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk. ⁴ Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he ^(Y)cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”

⁵ Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a ^(Z)fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. ⁶ When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, ^(AA)covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ^[k]ashes. ⁷ He issued a ^(AB)proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. ⁸ But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let ^[l]men ^(AC)call on God earnestly that each may ^(AD)turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in ^[m]his hands. ^9 (AE)Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.”

¹⁰ When God saw their deeds, that they ^(AF)turned from their wicked way, then ^(AG)God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would ^[n]bring upon them. And He did not do it.

Jonah’s Displeasure Rebuked

4 But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became ^(AH)angry. ² He ^(AI)prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this ^[o]what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore ^[p]in order to forestall this I ^(AJ)fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a ^(AK)gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. ³ Therefore now, O Lord, please ^(AL)take my ^[q]life from me, for death is ^(AM)better to me than life.” ⁴ The Lord said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”

⁵ Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of ^[r]it. There he made a shelter for himself and ^(AN)sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. ⁶ So the Lord God appointed a ^[s]plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was ^[t]extremely happy about the ^[u]plant. ⁷ But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it ^(AO)withered. ⁸ When the sun came up God appointed a scorching ^(AP)east wind, and the ^(AQ)sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “^(AR)Death is better to me than life.”

⁹ Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” ¹⁰ Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which ^[v]came up overnight and perished ^[w]overnight. ¹¹ Should I not ^(AS)have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not ^(AT)know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many ^(AU)animals?”

The Goal of Life

3 Finally, my brethren, ^(A)rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.

² Beware of the ^(B)dogs, beware of the ^(C)evil workers, beware of the ^[a]false circumcision; ³ for ^(D)we are the true ^[b]circumcision, who ^(E)worship in the Spirit of God and ^(F)glory in ^(G)Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, ⁴ although ^(H)I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: ^5 (I)circumcised the eighth day, of the ^(J)nation of Israel, of the ^(K)tribe of Benjamin, a ^(L)Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, ^(M)a Pharisee; ⁶ as to zeal, ^(N)a persecutor of the church; as to the ^(O)righteousness which is in the Law, found ^(P)blameless.

⁷ But ^(Q)whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ More than that, I count all things to be loss ^[c]in view of the surpassing value of ^[d](R)knowing ^(S)Christ Jesus my Lord, ^[e]for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, ⁹ and may be found in Him, not having ^(T)a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, ^(U)the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, ¹⁰ that I may ^(V)know Him and ^(W)the power of His resurrection and ^[f](X)the fellowship of His sufferings, being ^(Y)conformed to His death; ^11 [g]in order that I may ^(Z)attain to the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already ^(AA)obtained it or have already ^(AB)become perfect, but I press on ^[h]so that I may ^(AC)lay hold of that ^[i]for which also I ^(AD)was laid hold of by ^(AE)Christ Jesus. ¹³ Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: ^(AF)forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I ^(AG)press on toward the goal for the prize of the ^(AH)upward call of God in ^(AI)Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Let us therefore, as many as are ^[j](AJ)perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a ^(AK)different attitude, ^(AL)God will reveal that also to you; ¹⁶ however, let us keep ^[k](AM)living by that same standard to which we have attained.

¹⁷ Brethren, ^(AN)join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the ^(AO)pattern you have in us. ¹⁸ For ^(AP)many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even ^(AQ)weeping, that they are enemies of ^(AR)the cross of Christ, ¹⁹ whose end is destruction, whose god is their ^[l](AS)appetite, and whose ^(AT)glory is in their shame, who ^(AU)set their minds on earthly things. ²⁰ For ^(AV)our ^[m]citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly ^(AW)wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; ²¹ who will ^(AX)transform ^[n]the body of our humble state into ^(AY)conformity with ^[o]the ^(AZ)body of His glory, ^(BA)by the exertion of the power that He has even to ^(BB)subject all things to Himself.