Jonah 1–4

1^*Now the word of the Lord came unto ^a||Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ²Arise, go to ^bcNineveh, ^cthat great city, and cry against it; for ^dtheir wickedness ^eis come up before me. ³But Jonah rose up ^fto flee unto ^gTarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to ^hJoppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and ⁱwent down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish ^kfrom the presence of the Lord.

⁴But the Lord ^†sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was ^la mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship ^†was like ⁿto be broken. ⁵Then ^othe mariners were afraid, and ^pcried every man unto his god, and ^qcast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, ^qto lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and ^rwas fast asleep. ⁶So ^sthe shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, ^ssWhat meanest thou, ^rO sleeper? arise, ^pcall upon thy God, ^tif so be that God will ^uthink upon us, that we perish not.

⁷And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and ^vlet us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. ⁸Then said they unto him, ^wTell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou? ⁹And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear ^||the Lord, ^xthe God of heaven, ^ywhich hath made the sea and the dry land. ¹⁰Then were the men ^†exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled ^kfrom the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. ¹¹Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea ^†may be calm unto us? for the sea ^||†wrought, and was tempestuous. ¹²And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. ¹³Nevertheless the men ^†rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea ^||†wrought, and was tempestuous against them. ¹⁴Wherefore they cried unto ^zthe Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and ^alay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O Lord, ^bhast done as it pleased thee. ¹⁵So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and ^cthe sea ^†ceased from her raging. ¹⁶Then ^dthe men feared the Lord exceedingly, and ^†egoffered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and ^gmade vows.

¹⁷Now the Lord had ^hprepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And ⁱJonah was in the ^†belly of the fish three days and three nights.

2Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly, ²And said,

^aI cried ^||by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and ^ahe heard me;

Out of the belly of ^||hell cried I, and ^bthou heardest my voice.

³For ^cthou hadst cast me into the deep, in the ^†midst of the seas;

And the floods compassed me about:

^dAll thy billows and thy waves passed over me.

^4eThen I said, I am cast out of thy sight;

Yet ^fI will look again ^fgtoward thy holy temple.

⁵The ^hwaters ⁱcompassed me about, ^keven to the soul:

The depth closed me round about,

The weeds were wrapped ^habout my head.

⁶I went down to the ^†lbottoms of the mountains;

The earth with ^mher bars was ^mmabout me for ever:

Yet hast thou brought up ⁿmy life ^nofrom ^||corruption, O Lord my God.

⁷When ^pmy soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord:

And ^qmy prayer came in unto thee, ^qinto ^rthine holy temple.

^8sThey that observe lying ^tvanities forsake ^utheir own mercy.

⁹But ^vI will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving;

^vwI will pay that that I have vowed.

^xSalvation is of the Lord.

¹⁰And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

3And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, ²Arise, go unto ^aNineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. ³So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now ^aNineveh was an ^†exceeding great city of three days’ journey. ⁴And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and ^bNineveh shall be overthrown. ⁵So ^cthe people of Nineveh believed God, and ^dproclaimed a fast, and ^eput on sackcloth, ^ffrom the greatest of them even to the least of them. ⁶For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and ^ghe arose from his throne, and he laid ^hhis robe from him, and ^eicovered him with sackcloth, and ^ijsat in ashes. ⁷And he ^kcaused it to be proclaimed and ^†published through Nineveh by ^lthe decree of the king and his ^†nobles, saying, Let neither man nor ^mbeast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: ⁸But let man and beast ^ebe covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, ⁿlet them turn every one from his evil way, and from ^othe violence that is in their hands. ^9pqWho can tell if God will turn ^qand repent, and ^rturn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? ¹⁰And God saw their works, that ^nsthey turned from their evil way; and ^stGod repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

4But ^ait displeased Jonah exceedingly, and ^bhe was very angry. ²And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore ^cI fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art ^da gracious God, and ^demerciful, ^dslow to anger, and of great kindness, ^dand repentest thee of the evil. ³Therefore now, ^fO Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for ^git is better for me to die than to live. ⁴Then said the Lord, ^||Doest thou well to be angry? ⁵So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him ^ha booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. ⁶And the ⁱLord God ^jprepared a ^||†gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his ^agrief. So Jonah ^†was exceeding glad of the gourd. ⁷But God ^jprepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. ⁸And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God ^jprepared a ^||vehement ^keast wind; and the sun ^lbeat upon the head of Jonah, that ^mhe fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, ^gIt is better for me to die than to live. ⁹And God said to Jonah, ^||Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, ^||I do well to be angry, ⁿeven unto death. ¹⁰Then said the Lord, Thou hast ^||had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which ^†came up in a night, and perished in a night: ¹¹And should not I spare ^oNineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons ^pthat cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; ^qand also much cattle?