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Daniel 5

The Writing on the Wall

1 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. 2 While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. 3 So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. 4 As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.
5 Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. 6 His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

7 The king summoned the enchanters, astrologers and diviners. Then he said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant. 9 So King Belshazzar became even more terrified and his face grew more pale. His nobles were baffled.

10 The queen, hearing the voices of the king and his nobles, came into the banquet hall. “May the king live forever!” she said. “Don’t be alarmed! Don’t look so pale! 11 There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. Your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners. 12 He did this because Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.”

13 So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, “Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah? 14 I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom. 15 The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it. 16 Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

17 Then Daniel answered the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.

18 “Your Majesty, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. 19 Because of the high position he gave him, all the nations and peoples of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. 20 But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. 21 He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like the ox; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and sets over them anyone he wishes.

22 “But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. 23 Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. 24 Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

25 “This is the inscription that was written:

  MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN

26 “Here is what these words mean:

  Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

27 Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

28 Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

29 Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

30 That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, 31 and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

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Daniel 6

Daniel in the Den of Lions

1 It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, 2 with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. 3 Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 4 At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. 5 Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”
6 So these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said: “May King Darius live forever! 7 The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den. 8 Now, Your Majesty, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.” 9 So King Darius put the decree in writing.

10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. 11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. 12 So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human being except to you, Your Majesty, would be thrown into the lions’ den?”

  The king answered, “The decree stands—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”

13 Then they said to the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, Your Majesty, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day.” 14 When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him.

15 Then the men went as a group to King Darius and said to him, “Remember, Your Majesty, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or edict that the king issues can be changed.”

16 So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”

17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed. 18 Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep.

19 At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. 20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”

21 Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! 22 My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”

23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

24 At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

25 Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth:

  “May you prosper greatly!

26 “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.

  “For he is the living God
  and he endures forever;
his kingdom will not be destroyed,
  his dominion will never end.
27 He rescues and he saves;
  he performs signs and wonders
  in the heavens and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel
  from the power of the lions.”

28 So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

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Hosea 2

1 “Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’

Israel Punished and Restored

2 “Rebuke your mother, rebuke her,
  for she is not my wife,
  and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous look from her face
  and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise I will strip her naked
  and make her as bare as on the day she was born;
I will make her like a desert,
  turn her into a parched land,
  and slay her with thirst.
4 I will not show my love to her children,
  because they are the children of adultery.
5 Their mother has been unfaithful
  and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
  who give me my food and my water,
  my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
  I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
7 She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
  she will look for them but not find them.
Then she will say,
  ‘I will go back to my husband as at first,
  for then I was better off than now.’
8 She has not acknowledged that I was the one
  who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,
who lavished on her the silver and gold—
  which they used for Baal.
9 “Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens,
  and my new wine when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
  intended to cover her naked body.
10 So now I will expose her lewdness
  before the eyes of her lovers;
  no one will take her out of my hands.
11 I will stop all her celebrations:
  her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
  her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.
12 I will ruin her vines and her fig trees,
  which she said were her pay from her lovers;
I will make them a thicket,
  and wild animals will devour them.
13 I will punish her for the days
  she burned incense to the Baals;
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,
  and went after her lovers,
  but me she forgot,”
            declares the LORD.

14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her;
  I will lead her into the wilderness
  and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her back her vineyards,
  and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will respond as in the days of her youth,
  as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

16 “In that day,” declares the LORD,
  “you will call me ‘my husband’;
  you will no longer call me ‘my master.’
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
  no longer will their names be invoked.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them
  with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
  and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
  I will abolish from the land,
  so that all may lie down in safety.
19 I will betroth you to me forever;
  I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
  in love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you in faithfulness,
  and you will acknowledge the LORD.

21 “In that day I will respond,”
  declares the LORD—
“I will respond to the skies,
  and they will respond to the earth;
22 and the earth will respond to the grain,
  the new wine and the olive oil,
  and they will respond to Jezreel.
23 I will plant her for myself in the land;
  I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;
  and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

Hosea 3

Hosea’s Reconciliation With His Wife

1 The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”
2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”

4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. 5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days.

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Hosea 11

God’s Love for Israel

1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him,
  and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 But the more they were called,
  the more they went away from me.
They sacrificed to the Baals
  and they burned incense to images.
3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
  taking them by the arms;
but they did not realize
  it was I who healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
  with ties of love.
To them I was like one who lifts
  a little child to the cheek,
  and I bent down to feed them.
5 “Will they not return to Egypt
  and will not Assyria rule over them
  because they refuse to repent?
6 A sword will flash in their cities;
  it will devour their false prophets
  and put an end to their plans.
7 My people are determined to turn from me.
  Even though they call me God Most High,
  I will by no means exalt them.

8 “How can I give you up, Ephraim?
  How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I treat you like Admah?
  How can I make you like Zeboyim?
My heart is changed within me;
  all my compassion is aroused.
9 I will not carry out my fierce anger,
  nor will I devastate Ephraim again.
For I am God, and not a man—
  the Holy One among you.
  I will not come against their cities.
10 They will follow the LORD;
  he will roar like a lion.
When he roars,
  his children will come trembling from the west.
11 They will come from Egypt,
  trembling like sparrows,
  from Assyria, fluttering like doves.
I will settle them in their homes,”
  declares the LORD.

Israel’s Sin

12 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,
  Israel with deceit.
And Judah is unruly against God,
  even against the faithful Holy One.

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Joel 2

An Army of Locusts

1 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
  sound the alarm on my holy hill.
  Let all who live in the land tremble,
  for the day of the LORD is coming.
It is close at hand—
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
  a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
  a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was in ancient times
  nor ever will be in ages to come.

3 Before them fire devours,
  behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
  behind them, a desert waste—
  nothing escapes them.
4 They have the appearance of horses;
  they gallop along like cavalry.
5 With a noise like that of chariots
  they leap over the mountaintops,
like a crackling fire consuming stubble,
  like a mighty army drawn up for battle.

6 At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;
  every face turns pale.
7 They charge like warriors;
  they scale walls like soldiers.
They all march in line,
  not swerving from their course.
8 They do not jostle each other;
  each marches straight ahead.
They plunge through defenses
  without breaking ranks.
9 They rush upon the city;
  they run along the wall.
They climb into the houses;
  like thieves they enter through the windows.

10 Before them the earth shakes,
  the heavens tremble,
the sun and moon are darkened,
  and the stars no longer shine.
11 The LORD thunders
  at the head of his army;
his forces are beyond number,
  and mighty is the army that obeys his command.
The day of the LORD is great;
  it is dreadful.
  Who can endure it?

Rend Your Heart

12 “Even now,” declares the LORD,
  “return to me with all your heart,
  with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
13 Rend your heart
  and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
  for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
  and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and relent
  and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
  for the LORD your God.

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion,
  declare a holy fast,
  call a sacred assembly.
16 Gather the people,
  consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
  gather the children,
  those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
  and the bride her chamber.
17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD,
  weep between the portico and the altar.
Let them say, “Spare your people, LORD.
  Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
  a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
  ‘Where is their God?’”

The LORD’s Answer

18 Then the LORD was jealous for his land
  and took pity on his people.
19 The LORD replied to them:

  “I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil,
  enough to satisfy you fully;
never again will I make you
  an object of scorn to the nations.

20 “I will drive the northern horde far from you,
  pushing it into a parched and barren land;
its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea
  and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea.
And its stench will go up;
  its smell will rise.”

  Surely he has done great things!
21 Do not be afraid, land of Judah;
  be glad and rejoice.
Surely the LORD has done great things!
22 Do not be afraid, you wild animals,
  for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green.
The trees are bearing their fruit;
  the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.
23 Be glad, people of Zion,
  rejoice in the LORD your God,
for he has given you the autumn rains
  because he is faithful.
He sends you abundant showers,
  both autumn and spring rains, as before.
24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
  the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
  the great locust and the young locust,
  the other locusts and the locust swarm—
my great army that I sent among you.
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
  and you will praise the name of the LORD your God,
  who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
27 Then you will know that I am in Israel,
  that I am the LORD your God,
  and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.

The Day of the LORD

28 “And afterward,
  I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
  your old men will dream dreams,
  your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
  I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
  and on the earth,
  blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
  and the moon to blood
  before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
32 And everyone who calls
  on the name of the LORD will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
  there will be deliverance,
  as the LORD has said,
even among the survivors
  whom the LORD calls.

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Welcome to the Daily Reading!
Day 5: Joel - Chapter 2

God Bless

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Amos 4

Israel Has Not Returned to God

1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria,
  you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy
  and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!”
2 The Sovereign LORD has sworn by his holiness:
  “The time will surely come
when you will be taken away with hooks,
  the last of you with fishhooks.
3 You will each go straight out
  through breaches in the wall,
  and you will be cast out toward Harmon,”
            declares the LORD.
4 “Go to Bethel and sin;
  go to Gilgal and sin yet more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
  your tithes every three years.
5 Burn leavened bread as a thank offering
  and brag about your freewill offerings—
boast about them, you Israelites,
  for this is what you love to do,”
            declares the Sovereign LORD.
6 “I gave you empty stomachs in every city
  and lack of bread in every town,
  yet you have not returned to me,”
            declares the LORD.

7 “I also withheld rain from you
  when the harvest was still three months away.
I sent rain on one town,
  but withheld it from another.
One field had rain;
  another had none and dried up.
8 People staggered from town to town for water
  but did not get enough to drink,
  yet you have not returned to me,”
            declares the LORD.

9 “Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards,
  destroying them with blight and mildew.
Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees,
  yet you have not returned to me,”
            declares the LORD.

10 “I sent plagues among you
  as I did to Egypt.
I killed your young men with the sword,
  along with your captured horses.
I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps,
  yet you have not returned to me,”
            declares the LORD.

11 “I overthrew some of you
  as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire,
  yet you have not returned to me,”
            declares the LORD.

12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,
  and because I will do this to you, Israel,
  prepare to meet your God.”

13 He who forms the mountains,
  who creates the wind,
  and who reveals his thoughts to mankind,
who turns dawn to darkness,
  and treads on the heights of the earth—
  the LORD God Almighty is his name.

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Obadiah 1

Obadiah’s Vision

1 The vision of Obadiah.
  This is what the Sovereign LORD says about Edom—

  We have heard a message from the LORD:
  An envoy was sent to the nations to say,
“Rise, let us go against her for battle”—

2 “See, I will make you small among the nations;
  you will be utterly despised.
3 The pride of your heart has deceived you,
  you who live in the clefts of the rocks
  and make your home on the heights,
you who say to yourself,
  ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’
4 Though you soar like the eagle
  and make your nest among the stars,
  from there I will bring you down,”
            declares the LORD.
5 “If thieves came to you,
  if robbers in the night—
oh, what a disaster awaits you!—
  would they not steal only as much as they wanted?
If grape pickers came to you,
  would they not leave a few grapes?
6 But how Esau will be ransacked,
  his hidden treasures pillaged!
7 All your allies will force you to the border;
  your friends will deceive and overpower you;
those who eat your bread will set a trap for you,
  but you will not detect it.

8 “In that day,” declares the LORD,
  “will I not destroy the wise men of Edom,
  those of understanding in the mountains of Esau?
9 Your warriors, Teman, will be terrified,
  and everyone in Esau’s mountains
  will be cut down in the slaughter.
10 Because of the violence against your brother Jacob,
  you will be covered with shame;
  you will be destroyed forever.
11 On the day you stood aloof
  while strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates
  and cast lots for Jerusalem,
  you were like one of them.
12 You should not gloat over your brother
  in the day of his misfortune,
nor rejoice over the people of Judah
  in the day of their destruction,
nor boast so much
  in the day of their trouble.
13 You should not march through the gates of my people
  in the day of their disaster,
nor gloat over them in their calamity
  in the day of their disaster,
nor seize their wealth
  in the day of their disaster.
14 You should not wait at the crossroads
  to cut down their fugitives,
nor hand over their survivors
  in the day of their trouble.

15 “The day of the LORD is near
  for all nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you;
  your deeds will return upon your own head.
16 Just as you drank on my holy hill,
  so all the nations will drink continually;
they will drink and drink
  and be as if they had never been.
17 But on Mount Zion will be deliverance;
  it will be holy,
  and Jacob will possess his inheritance.
18 Jacob will be a fire
  and Joseph a flame;
Esau will be stubble,
  and they will set him on fire and destroy him.
There will be no survivors
  from Esau.”
            The LORD has spoken.

19 People from the Negev will occupy
  the mountains of Esau,
and people from the foothills will possess
  the land of the Philistines.
They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria,
  and Benjamin will possess Gilead.
20 This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan
  will possess the land as far as Zarephath;
the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
  will possess the towns of the Negev.
21 Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion
  to govern the mountains of Esau.
  And the kingdom will be the LORD’s.

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Jonah 3

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
3 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:

  “By the decree of the king and his nobles:

  Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

Jonah 4

Jonah’s Anger at the LORD’s Compassion

1 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, “Isn’t this what I said, LORD, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4 But the LORD replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the LORD God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

  “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

10 But the LORD said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”