Jonah 1:1–4:9

Jonah’s Disobedience

¹The word of the Lord came to ^aJonah the son of Amittai saying,

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

³But Jonah rose up to flee to ^aTarshish ^bfrom the presence of the Lord. So he went down to ^cJoppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

⁴The ^aLord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to ¹break up.

⁵Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to ^ahis god, and they ^bthrew the ¹cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it ²for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep.

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

⁷Each man said to his mate, “Come, let us ^acast lots so we may ¹learn on whose account this calamity has struck us.” So they cast lots and the ^blot fell on Jonah.

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

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

¹⁰Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, “¹How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was ^afleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

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

¹²He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm 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 land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them.

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

¹⁵So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea ^astopped its raging.

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

¹⁷¹And the Lord 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 the Lord his God ^afrom the stomach of the fish,

²and he said,

“I ^acalled out of my distress to the Lord,

And He answered me.

I cried for help from the ¹depth of ^bSheol;

You heard my voice.

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

Into the heart of the seas,

And the current ¹engulfed me.

All Your ^bbreakers and billows passed over me.

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

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

⁵“^aWater encompassed me to the ¹point of death.

The great ^bdeep ²engulfed me,

Weeds were wrapped around my head.

⁶“I ^adescended to the roots of the mountains.

The earth with its ^bbars was around me forever,

But You have ^cbrought up my life from ¹the pit, O Lord my God.

⁷“While ¹I was ^afainting away,

I ^bremembered the Lord,

And my ^cprayer came to You,

Into ^dYour holy temple.

⁸“Those who ^aregard ¹vain idols

Forsake their faithfulness,

⁹But I will ^asacrifice to You

With the voice of thanksgiving.

That which I have vowed I will ^bpay.

^cSalvation is from the Lord.”

¹⁰Then the Lord commanded the ^afish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

Chapter 3

Nineveh Repents

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

²“Arise, go to ^aNineveh the great city and ^bproclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.”

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

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

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

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

⁷He issued a ^aproclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water.

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

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

¹⁰When God saw their deeds, that they ^aturned from their wicked way, then ^bGod relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would ¹bring upon them. And He did not do it.

Chapter 4

Jonah’s Displeasure Rebuked

¹But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became ^aangry.

²He ^aprayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this ¹what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore ²in order to forestall this I ^bfled 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 calamity.

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

⁴The Lord said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”

⁵Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of ¹it. There he made a shelter for himself and ^asat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city.

⁶So the Lord God appointed a ¹plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was ²extremely happy about the plant.

⁷But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it ^awithered.

⁸When the sun came up God appointed a scorching ^aeast wind, and the ^bsun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “^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.”