Jonah

Chapter 1

¹ Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, ² “Get up and go to Nineveh, the great city, and speak out against it, because their wickedness has risen up before me.” ³ But Jonah got up to run away to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of Yahweh.

⁴ But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea and it became a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. ⁵ Then the sailors became very afraid and each man cried out to his own god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and had lain down and was deeply asleep.

⁶ So the captain came to him and said to him, “What are you doing sleeping? Get up! Call upon your god! Maybe your god will notice us and we will not perish.”

⁷ They all said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this evil is happening to us.” So they threw lots, and the lot fell to Jonah.

⁸ Then they said to him, “Please tell us on whose account this evil is happening to us. What is your occupation, and where did you come from? What is your country, and from which people are you?” ⁹ So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.” ¹⁰ Then the men were even more afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done?” For the men knew that he was running away from the presence of Yahweh, because he had told them.

¹¹ Then they said to him, “What should we do to you so that the sea will calm down for us?” For the sea became more and more violent. ¹² He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you, for I know that this great storm is happening to you because of me.”

¹³ Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to the land, but they could not, because the sea was becoming more and more violent against them.

¹⁴ Therefore they cried out to Yahweh and said, “We beg you, Yahweh, we beg you, do not let us perish on account of the life of this man, and do not accuse us of shedding innocent blood, because you, Yahweh, have done just as it pleased you.” ¹⁵ So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging. ¹⁶ Then the men feared Yahweh with a great fear. They offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and made vows.

¹⁷ Now Yahweh had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. ^[1]

Chapter 2

¹ Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh his God from the stomach of the fish. ^{[1] 2} He said,

     “I called out to Yahweh about my distress

     and he answered me;

     from the belly of Sheol I cried out!

     You heard my voice.

     ³ You had thrown me into the depths, into the heart of the seas,

     and the currents surrounded me;

     all your billows and your waves

     passed over me.

     ⁴ I said, ‘I am driven out from before your eyes;

     yet I will again look toward your holy temple.’

     ⁵ The waters surrounded me up to my soul;

     the deep swirled around me;

     seaweed wrapped around my head.

     ⁶ I went down to the bases of the mountains;

     the earth with its bars closed upon me forever.

     Yet you brought up my life from the pit, Yahweh, my God!

     ⁷ When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh;

     then my prayer came to you, to your holy temple.

     ⁸ Those who give attention to useless idols

     forsake loving kindness.

     ⁹ But as for me, I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving;

     I will fulfill that which I have vowed.

     Salvation is from Yahweh!”

¹⁰ Then Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited up Jonah upon the dry land.

Chapter 3

¹ The word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time, saying, ² “Get up, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” ³ So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was a very large city, a journey of three days. ⁴ Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s journey and he called out and said, “After forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown.” ⁵ The people of Nineveh believed God and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them down to the least of them. ⁶ Then word came to the king of Nineveh. He rose up from his throne, took off his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷ He issued a proclamation and published it, saying, “In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles, let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not eat, nor drink water. ⁸ But let man and animal be covered with sackcloth and let them cry out loudly to God. Let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. ⁹ Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn away from his fierce anger so that we do not perish.” ¹⁰ God saw their works, that they turned from their evil. So God relented concerning the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Chapter 4

¹ But this was evil to Jonah—extremely evil—and he became angry. ² So he prayed to Yahweh and said, “Ah, Yahweh, is this not what I said when I was in my country? That is why I previously fled to Tarshish—because I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in covenant faithfulness, and one who relents from sending disaster. ³ Therefore now, Yahweh, I beg you, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” ⁴ Yahweh said, “Is it good for you to burn with anger?” ⁵ Then Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade so that he could see what might become of the city.

⁶ Yahweh God prepared a plant and made it grow up over Jonah so that it might be shade over his head to rescue him from his distress. Jonah rejoiced because of the plant with great joy. ⁷ But God prepared a worm when the dawn came the next morning. It attacked the plant so that it withered. ⁸ It came about that when the sun rose, God prepared a hot east wind. The sun beat down on the head of Jonah and he became faint. Then he wished for death for himself, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” ⁹ Then God said to Jonah, “Is it good for you to burn with anger about the plant?” So he said, “It is good for me to burn with anger, even to death.” ¹⁰ Yahweh said, “You have had compassion for the plant, which you did not work for, and you did not make it grow—which grew up as a son of the night and perished as a son of the night. ¹¹ So as for me, should I not have compassion for Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish between their right hand and their left hand, and also many cattle?”