1:3. The pride of thy heart hath lifted thee up, who dwellest in the clefts of the rocks, and settest up thy throne on high: who sayest in thy heart: Who shall bring me down to the ground?
1:4. Though thou be exalted as an eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars: thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.
1:5. If thieves had gone in to thee, if robbers by night, how wouldst thou have held thy peace? would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers had come in to thee, would they not have left thee at the least a cluster?
1:6. How have they searched Esau, how have they sought out his hidden things?
1:7. They have sent thee out even to the border: all the men of thy confederacy have deceived thee: the men of thy peace have prevailed against thee: they that eat with thee shall lay snares under thee: there is no wisdom in him.
1:8. Shall not I in that day, saith the Lord, destroy the wise out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?
1:9. And thy valiant men of the south shall be afraid, that man may be cut off from the mount of Esau.
1:10. For the slaughter, and for the iniquity against thy brother Jacob, confusion shall cover thee, and thou shalt perish for ever.
1:11. In the day when thou stoodest against him, when strangers carried away his army captive, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem: thou also wast as one of them.
1:12. But thou shalt not look on in the day of thy brother, in the day of his leaving his country: and thou shalt not rejoice over the children of Juda, in the day of their destruction: and thou shalt not magnify thy mouth in the day of distress.
Thou shalt not look, etc... or, thou shouldst not, etc. It is a reprehension for what they had done, and at the same time a declaration that these things should not pass unpunished.-Ibid. Thou shalt not magnify thy mouth... That is, thou shalt not speak arrogantly against the children of Juda as insulting them in their distress.
1:13. Neither shalt thou enter into the gate of my people in the day of their ruin: neither shalt thou also look on in his evils in the day of his calamity: and thou shalt not be sent out against his army in the day of his desolation.
1:14. Neither shalt thou stand in the crossways to kill them that flee: and thou shalt not shut up them that remain of him in the day of tribulation.
1:15. For the day of the Lord is at hand upon all nations: as thou hast done, so shall it be done to thee: he will turn thy reward upon thy own head.
1:16. For as you have drunk upon my holy mountain, so all nations shall drink continually: and they shall drink, and sup up, and they shall be as though they were not.
1:17. And in mount Sion shall be salvation, and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess those that possessed them.
1:18. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble: and they shall be kindled in them, and shall devour them: and there shall be no remains of the house of Esau, for the Lord hath spoken it.
1:19. And they that are toward the south, shall inherit the mount of Esau, and they that are in the plains, the Philistines: and they shall possess the country of Ephraim, and the country of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Galaad.
1:20. And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel, all the places of the Chanaanites even to Sarepta: and the captivity of Jerusalem that is in Bosphorus, shall possess the cities of the south.
1:21. And saviours shall come up into mount Sion to judge the mount of Esau: and the kingdom shall be for the Lord.
THE PROPHECY OF JONAS
JONAS prophesied in the reign of JEREBOAM the second: as we learn from 4 Kings 14.25. To whom also he foretold his success in restoring all the borders of Israel. He was of GETH OPHER in the tribe of ZABULON, and consequently of GALILEE: which confutes that assertion of the Pharisees, John 7.52, that no prophet ever rose out of GALILEE. He prophesied and prefigured in his own person the death and resurrection of CHRIST: and was the only one among the prophets that was sent to preach to the Gentiles.
Jonas Chapter 1
Jonas being sent to preach in Ninive, fleeth away by sea: a tempest riseth: of which he being found, by lot, to be the cause, is cast into the sea, which thereupon is calmed.
1:1. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonas, the son of Amathi, saying:
1:2. Arise and go to Ninive, the great city, and preach in it: For the wickedness thereof is come up before me.
Nineve... The capital city of the Assyrian empire.
1:3. And Jonas rose up to flee into Tharsis from the face of the Lord, and he went down to Joppe, and found a ship going to Tharsis: and he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them to Tharsis from the face of the Lord,
Tharsis... Which some take to be Tharsus of Cilicia, others to be Tartessus of Spain, others to be Carthage.
1:4. But the Lord sent a great wind to the sea: and a great tempest was raised in the sea, and the ship was in danger to be broken.
1:5. And the mariners were afraid, and the men cried to their god: and they cast forth the wares that were in the ship, into the sea, to lighten it of them: and Jonas went down into the inner part of the ship, and fell into a deep sleep.
A deep sleep... This is a lively image of the insensibility of sinners, fleeing from God, and threatened on every side with his judgments: and yet sleeping as if they were secure.
1:6. And the ship master came to him and said to him: Why art thou fast asleep? rise up call upon thy God, if so be that God will think of us that we may not perish.
1:7. And they said every one to his fellow: Come and let us cast lots, that we may know why this evil is upon us. And they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonas.
1:8. And they said to him: Tell us for what cause this evil is upon us, what is thy business? of what country art thou? and whither goest thou?
or of what people art thou?
1:9. And he said to them: I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, and the God of heaven, who made both the sea and the dry land.
1:10. And the men were greatly afraid, and they said to him: Why hast thou done this? (For the men knew that he fled from the face of the Lord: because he had told them.)
1:11. And they said to him: What shall we do with thee, that the sea may be calm to us? for the sea flowed and swelled.
1:12. And he said to them: take me up, and cast me into the sea, and the sea shall be calm to you: for I know for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
1:13. And the men rowed hard to return the land, but they were not able: because the sea tossed and swelled upon them.
1:14. And they cried to the Lord, and said: We beseech thee, O Lord let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, oh Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.
1:15. And they took Jonas, and cast him into the sea, and the sea ceased from raging.
1:16. And the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and sacrificed victims to the Lord, and made vows.
Jonas Chapter 2
Jonas is swallowed up by a great fish: he prayeth with confidence in God; and the fish casteth him out on the dry land.
2:1. Now the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonas: and Jonas was in the belly of a fish for three days and three nights.