{"quotes":[{"text":"Luke said that he was surprised when I showed up at his room. That he hadn’t meant to give me the wrong idea. That he would never have taken it beyond just kissing. And he looked so genuine. So trustworthy. So sorry about what had happened. He almost convinced me that I’d misread his signals.” Hallelujah pauses. “The whole time, I kept my mouth shut. I wish I hadn’t. But I was still so humiliated. And I felt guilty. I made out with him. I liked it. And no one made me go to his room.”Her voice breaks. She has to swallow past a lump in her throat.“I know Luke’s not a good guy. I know what he did isn’t my fault. It’s his. But still, none of it would’ve happened if I hadn’t gone to his room.”She’s almost there. Almost done. Almost heard. Something deep inside her hurts like it hasn’t hurt in a long time. But she knows that this gash had to reopen in order to heal. That’s how wounds work. They need air.“I knew I’d get punished, and I did. My parents grounded me. I was put on youth group probation. But I honestly thought Luke’s lies would just fade away if I kept a low profile. There’s always gossip about someone. This time it was me.”...“Luke is still telling people about what supposedly happened that night,” Hallelujah says. “And he makes fun of me. All the time. What I look like, what I say, my name. And he does this thing at church: whenever we sing a hymn with my name in it, he sings it like he’s hooking up with me. He sings the word ‘hallelujah’ at me. He moans it. And I hate it.” That’s one of the reasons she stopped singing: his voice, his fake grunts of satisfaction, ruining the music she loved so much.“You said,” she says to Jonah, “he wanted to keep me upset. To keep me from telling anyone what really happened. Well, it worked.” She pauses. “Until now.”“Until now,” Rachel repeats. Then she curses. “I can’t believe him. I can’t believe he got away with it.”“I let him get away with it,” Hallelujah says softly.“No. He’s the one who crossed the line. And okay, maybe you could’ve spoken up sooner. But if no one pushed you for your side of the story, that’s on them.” Rachel yawns and stretches. “And when we get home, we’re going to set the record straight.","author":"Kathryn Holmes","tags":["bully","get-away-with-it","hallelujah-calhoun","harass","hate","jonah","lies","luke-willis","punished","rachel-jackson","singing","torment"],"id":2475,"author_id":"Kathryn+Holmes"},{"text":"The book of Jonah becomes an embarrassing and public reading of your family business. (page iii).","author":"Michael Ben Zehabe","tags":["alienation","commentary","family-business","homeschool","jonah","quitting","shame"],"id":15784,"author_id":"Michael+Ben+Zehabe"},{"text":"If this letter system works, it should be reproducible and consistent. If this letter system works, it should be demonstrated in biblical narrative—with consistency. It has. It does. It will. For instance: Daniel interpreted the handwriting on the Babylonian wall. (Da 5:1-31) The question has always been, “What method would produce the same interpretation?” If you will pull out your Strong’s Concordance and translate those same four words, you won’t get the same results that Daniel got. Was Daniel using a different method than modern Christians? Yes, obviously.","author":"Michael Ben Zehabe","tags":["bible","daniel-s-vision","homeschool","jonah","sacred-alphabet","sacred-language","teaching-hebrew","writing-on-the-wall"],"id":27607,"author_id":"Michael+Ben+Zehabe"},{"text":"After a few minutes, she speaks up again. “You’re next. Sing.”Anxiety grips Hallelujah’s chest, squeezing. “I don’t sing,” she says.“C’mon, it doesn’t matter if you’re bad. It’s not like this is a concert hall—”“She’s not bad.” Jonah’s back. “She has a great voice.”Rachel swings around to look from Jonah to Hallelujah. “Really? Now you have to—”“No.'“But—”“I don’t sing,” Hallelujah repeats, turning away.Jonah joins them by the fire. The silence stretches out. Except it’s not really silent, not with the birds and wind and fire and how loud Hallelujah’s heart is beating. And then Jonah clears his throat. “You used to sing,” he says. “You were great.”Hallelujah ignores the compliment. She looks into the fire. She feels the last of the day’s happiness fading away, already a memory.“Why’d you quit?” Jonah asks. “Was it ’cause of Luke?”Hallelujah inhales deeply. She feels the familiar spark of anger in her gut. “Yes,” she says. “It was because of Luke. And you. And everyone else. So thanks for that.” Jonah’s face drops. She can see that she’s hit a nerve. Well, he hurt her first. The way he took Luke’s side, shutting her out. The loss of his friendship, when she needed a friend most. The loss of their voices harmonizing, when she needed music most. How she just hurt him can’t begin to compare to all of that.","author":"Kathryn Holmes","tags":["hallelujah","hurt","jonah","loss","luke-willis","quit","rachel-jackson","sing"],"id":28923,"author_id":"Kathryn+Holmes"},{"text":"Jonah shifts to lean back a little farther, moaning as he does. “Holy heck, my leg hurts,” he says, still with that strained, forced lightness.Again, Hallelujah mimics his tone. “‘Holy heck’? That’s cutting it close.”“I have a gash in my leg the size of the Mississippi. I can say whatever I want.","author":"Kathryn Holmes","tags":["hallelujah","holy-heck","hurt","jonah"],"id":37255,"author_id":"Kathryn+Holmes"},{"text":"The world has a lot to offer. There’s a lot to explore. I like to take advantage of that.","author":"Chloe Neill","tags":["chloe","deep","drink","jonah","neill"],"id":65635,"author_id":"Chloe+Neill"},{"text":"And suddenly I know I have to go. But this time without being chased by the Brigadier, without experiencing the kindness of a postman from Yass, and without taking along a Cadet who will change the way I breath for the rest of my life.","author":"Melina Marchetta","tags":["family","jonah","need","taylor"],"id":103666,"author_id":"Melina+Marchetta"},{"text":"We should expect nothing less from the language that was originally given by God, to His human family. Hebrew was the method that God chose for mankind to speak to Him, and Him to them. Adam spoke Hebrew—and your Bible confirms this. Everyone who got off the ark spoke one language—Hebrew. Even Abraham spoke Hebrew. Where did Abraham learn to speak Hebrew? Abraham was descended from Noah’s son, Shem. (Ge 11:10-26) Shem’s household was not affected by the later confusion of languages, at Babel. (Ge 11:5-9) To the contrary, Shem was blessed while the rest of Babel was cursed. (Ge 9:26) That is how Abraham retained Hebrew, despite residing in Babylon.So, Shem’s language can be traced back to Adam. (Ge 11:1) And, Shem (Noah’s son) was still alive when Jacob and Esau was 30 years of age. Obviously, Hebrew (the original language) was clearly spoken by Jacob’s sons. (Ge 14:13).","author":"Michael Ben Zehabe","tags":["apologetics","bible","commentary","hebrew","homeschool","jonah","mathematical-pattern","numerics","teaching-hebrew"],"id":107351,"author_id":"Michael+Ben+Zehabe"},{"text":"Everything about her always seemed to dance. Her lips as she spoke, her eyes as she laughed, even her hands as she made the cup of coffee I just ordered.","author":"Holli True","tags":["hailey","hailey-covington","jonah","jonah-trabor","new-adult","paranormal","paranormal-romance","quote","reckless","romance"],"id":124004,"author_id":"Holli+True"},{"text":"You can change direction if you feel like you have missed your way... Decide to do that now! Go back a little more and begin from where you missed it out! If only you are ready to rise again, you can make a right decision in that tight belly of the shark. Jonah did that earlier!","author":"Israelmore Ayivor","tags":["arise","begin","belly","change","change-direction","commence","decide","decision","direction","early","feel","food-for-thought","go-back","israelmore-ayivor","jonah","little","make-a-change","make-a-decision","make-a-difference","miss-your-way","missed","more","prepared","ready","repent","repentance","right","right-decision","rise-again","rise-up","shark","start","take-a-decision","tight","tight-belly","tight-box","way"],"id":131189,"author_id":"Israelmore+Ayivor"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":37,"pages":4,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}