Jonah 1:1–4:9

Jonah Flees from Yahweh’s Presence

¹Now the word of ¹Yahweh came to ^aJonah the son of Amittai saying,

²“Arise, go to ^aNineveh, the great city, and ^bcall out against it, for their ^cevil has come up before Me.”

³Yet Jonah arose to flee to ^aTarshish ^bfrom the presence of Yahweh. So he went down to ^cJoppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, and ¹paid its fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.

⁴But ^aYahweh hurled a great wind on the sea, and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship gave thought to ¹breaking apart.

⁵Then the sailors became fearful, and every man cried to ^ahis god, and they ^bhurled the ¹cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it ²for them. But Jonah had gone down below into the innermost part of the vessel, lain down, and fallen deep asleep.

⁶So the captain came near to him and said to him, “How is it that you are deeply sleeping? Arise, ^acall on your god. Perhaps your ^bgod will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.”

⁷Then each man said to the other, “Come, let us ^1ahave the lots fall so we may know on whose account this calamitous evil has struck us.” So they ²had the lots fall, and the ^blot fell on Jonah.

⁸Then they said to him, “^aTell us, now! On whose account has this calamitous evil struck us? What is your ^boccupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”

⁹And he said to them, “I am a ^aHebrew, and I ^bfear Yahweh, the ^cGod of heaven, who ^dmade the sea and the dry land.”

¹⁰Then the men became greatly fearful, and they said to him, “What is this you have done?” For the men knew that he was ^afleeing from the presence of Yahweh because he had told them.

¹¹So they said to him, “What should we do to you that the sea may become quiet ¹for us?”—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy.

¹²So he said to them, “Lift me up and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will become quiet ¹for you, for I know that ^aon account of me this great storm has come upon you.”

¹³However, the men ¹rowed desperately to return to dry land, but they could not, for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy against them.

¹⁴Then they called on ^aYahweh and said, “Ah! O Yahweh, we earnestly pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life, and do not put innocent blood on us; for ^bYou, O Yahweh, as You have pleased You have done.”

¹⁵So they lifted Jonah up and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ^astood still from its raging.

¹⁶Then the men greatly feared Yahweh, and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and made ^avows.

¹⁷¹And Yahweh appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the ^astomach of the fish three days and three nights.

CHAPTER 2

Jonah’s Prayer

¹¹Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh his God ^afrom the stomach of the fish,

²and he said,

“I ^acalled out of my distress to Yahweh,

And He answered me.

I cried for help from the belly of ^bSheol;

You heard my voice.

³“For You had ^acast me into the deep,

Into the heart of the seas,

And the current surrounded me.

All Your ^bbreakers and waves passed over me.

⁴“So I said, ‘I have been ^adriven away from ¹Your sight.

Nevertheless I will look again ^btoward Your holy temple.’

⁵“^aWater encompassed me to my very soul.

The great ^bdeep surrounded me,

Weeds were wrapped around my head.

⁶“I ^awent down to the ¹base of the mountains.

The earth with its ^bbars closed behind me forever,

But You have ^cbrought up my life from ²the pit, O Yahweh my God.

⁷“While my soul was ^afainting within me,

I ^bremembered Yahweh,

And my ^cprayer came to You,

To ^dYour holy temple.

⁸“Those who ^aregard worthless idols

Forsake their lovingkindness,

⁹But as for me, I will ^asacrifice to You

With the voice of thanksgiving.

That which I have vowed I will ^bpay.

^cSalvation belongs to Yahweh.”

¹⁰Then Yahweh spoke to the ^afish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

CHAPTER 3

Ninevites Turn from Their Evil Ways

¹Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the second time, saying,

²“Arise, go to ^aNineveh, the great city, and ^bcall out to it this very call which I am going to speak to you.”

³So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was ¹an ^aexceedingly great city, a three days’ walk.

⁴Then Jonah began to go into the city, one day’s walk; and he ^acalled out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”

⁵And the ¹people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a ^afast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.

⁶Then the word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, laid aside his mantle from him, ^acovered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ¹ashes.

⁷And he ^acried out and said,

“In Nineveh by the ¹decree of the king and his nobles²: Do not let man, ³animal, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat, and do not let them drink water.

⁸“But both man and ¹animal must be covered with sackcloth; and let ²men ^acall on God with their strength that each may ^bturn from his evil way and from the violence which is in ³his hands.

⁹“^aWho knows, God may turn and relent and turn away from His burning anger so that we will not perish.”

¹⁰Then God saw their works, that they ^aturned from their evil way, so ^bGod ¹relented concerning the evil which He had spoken He would ²bring upon them. And He did not ³bring it upon them.

CHAPTER 4

Jonah’s Anger

¹But this was a great evil to Jonah, and he became ^aangry.

²And he ^aprayed to Yahweh and said, “Ah! O Yahweh, was not this my word to myself while I was still in my own land? Therefore I went ahead to ^bflee to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a ^cgracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning evil.

³“So now, O Yahweh, please ^atake my ¹life from me, for death is ^bbetter to me than life.”

⁴And Yahweh said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”

⁵Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of the city. And there he made a booth for himself and ^asat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city.

⁶So Yahweh God appointed a ¹plant, and it came up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his miserable evil. And Jonah was ²extremely glad about the plant.

⁷But God appointed a worm at the ¹breaking of dawn the next day, and it struck the plant, and ²it ^adried up.

⁸Then it happened that as the sun rose up, God appointed a scorching ^aeast wind, and the ^bsun struck down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and asked with all his soul to die and said, “^cDeath is better to me than life.”

⁹Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.”