22As the men turned and walked on toward Sodom, Abraham remained standing before the LORD. 23Then Abraham drew near and said: “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24Suppose there were fifty righteous people in the city; would you really sweep away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people within it? 25Far be it from you to do such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! Far be it from you! Should not the judge of all the world do what is just?”^g 26The LORD replied: If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake. 27Abraham spoke up again: “See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am only dust and ashes!^h 28What if there are five less than fifty righteous people? Will you destroy the whole city because of those five?” I will not destroy it, he answered, if I find forty-five there. 29But Abraham persisted, saying, “What if only forty are found there?” He replied: I will refrain from doing it for the sake of the forty. 30Then he said, “Do not let my Lord be angry if I go on. What if only thirty are found there?” He replied: I will refrain from doing it if I can find thirty there. 31Abraham went on, “Since I have thus presumed to speak to my Lord, what if there are no more than twenty?” I will not destroy it, he answered, for the sake of the twenty. 32But he persisted: “Please, do not let my Lord be angry if I speak up this last time. What if ten are found there?” For the sake of the ten, he replied, I will not destroy it.ⁱ

33The LORD departed as soon as he had finished speaking with Abraham, and Abraham returned home.

Jonah’s Anger and God’s Reproof. 1But this greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry.^* 2He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I fled at first toward Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in kindness, repenting of punishment.^{* a} 3So now, LORD, please take my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.”^b 4But the LORD asked, “Are you right to be angry?”^*

5Jonah then left the city for a place to the east of it, where he built himself a hut and waited^* under it in the shade, to see what would happen to the city. 6Then the LORD God provided a gourd plant.^* And when it grew up over Jonah’s head, giving shade that relieved him of any discomfort, Jonah was greatly delighted with the plant. 7But the next morning at dawn God provided a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8And when the sun arose, God provided a scorching east wind; and the sun beat upon Jonah’s head till he became faint. Then he wished for death, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

9But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry over the gourd plant?” Jonah answered, “I have a right to be angry—angry enough to die.” 10Then the LORD said, “You are concerned^* over the gourd plant which cost you no effort and which you did not grow; it came up in one night and in one night it perished. 11And should I not be concerned over the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot know their right hand from their left, not to mention all the animals?”^*

Saul’s Conversion. 1^* Now Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord,^a went to the high priest^b 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way,^* he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains. 3On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him.^c 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”^d 5He said, “Who are you, sir?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.^e 6Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.”^f 7The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could see no one.^g 8Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing;^* so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus.^h 9For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.

The Demand for a Sign.^* 29While still more people gathered in the crowd, he said to them,^m “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.ⁿ 30Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here.^o 32At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here.^p

13^* For you heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it,ⁱ 14and progressed in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my race, since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions.^j 15But when [God], who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased^k 16to reveal his Son to me,^l so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,^* 17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; rather, I went into Arabia^* and then returned to Damascus.

18^* Then after three years^* I went up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas and remained with him for fifteen days.^m 19But I did not see any other of the apostles,ⁿ only James the brother of the Lord.^* 20(As to what I am writing to you, behold, before God, I am not lying.)^o 21Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.^p 22And I was unknown personally to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; 23they only kept hearing that “the one who once was persecuting us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”^q 24So they glorified God because of me.