Jonah 4

4:1 This displeased Jonah terribly and he became very angry. 2He prayed to the Lord and said, “Oh, Lord, this is just what I thought would happen when I was in my own country. This is what I tried to prevent by attempting to escape to Tarshish, because I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment. 3So now, Lord, kill me instead, because I would rather die than live!” 4The Lord said, “Are you really so very angry?”

5Jonah left the city and sat down east of it. He made a shelter for himself there and sat down under it in the shade to see what would happen to the city. 6The Lord God appointed a little plant and caused it to grow up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to rescue him from his misery. Now Jonah was very delighted about the little plant.

7So God sent a worm at dawn the next day, and it attacked the little plant so that it dried up. 8When the sun began to shine, God sent a hot east wind. So the sun beat down on Jonah’s head, and he grew faint. So he despaired of life and said, “I would rather die than live!”

9God said to Jonah, “Are you really so very angry about the little plant?” And he said, “I am as angry as I could possibly be!” 10The Lord said, “You were upset about this little plant, something for which you did not work, nor did you do anything to make it grow. It grew up overnight and died the next day. 11Should I not be more concerned about Nineveh, this enormous city? There are more than 120,000 people in it who do not know right from wrong, as well as many animals.”

Ps. 65

65:1 For the music director, a psalm of David, a song.

Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion.

Vows made to you are fulfilled.

2You hear prayers;

all people approach you.

3Our record of sins overwhelms me,

but you forgive our acts of rebellion.

4How blessed is the one whom you choose

and allow to live in your palace courts.

May we be satisfied with the good things of your house—

your holy palace.

5You answer our prayers by performing awesome acts of deliverance,

O God, our savior.

All the ends of the earth trust in you,

as well as those living across the wide seas.

6You created the mountains by your power

and demonstrated your strength.

7You calmed the raging seas

and their roaring waves,

as well as the commotion made by the nations.

8Even those living in the remotest areas are awestruck by your acts;

you cause those living in the east and west to praise you.

9You visit the earth and give it rain;

you make it rich and fertile.

God’s streams are full of water;

you provide grain for the people of the earth,

for you have prepared the earth in this way.

10You saturate its furrows,

and soak its plowed ground.

With rain showers you soften its soil,

and make its crops grow.

11You crown the year with your good blessings,

and you leave abundance in your wake.

12The pastures in the wilderness glisten with moisture,

and the hills are clothed with joy.

13The meadows are clothed with sheep,

and the valleys are covered with grain.

They shout joyfully, yes, they sing.

Rom. 1:18–32

1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness, 19because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse. 21For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

24Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

26For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, 27and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. 29They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 31senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.