Jonah 1–2

Jonah Tries to Run Away from God

¹Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying,^{* 2}“Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”^{* 3}But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.^*

⁴But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up.^{* 5}Then the sailors were afraid, and each cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.^{* 6}The captain came and said to him, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up; call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish.”^*

⁷The sailors^a said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.^{* 8}Then they said to him, “Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”^{* 9}“I am a Hebrew,” he replied. “I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who 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 fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them so.^*

¹¹Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. ¹²He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.”^{* 13}Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to bring the ship^b back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. ¹⁴Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, O Lord, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.”^{* 15}So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶Then the men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.^*

^17cBut the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.^*

A Psalm of Thanksgiving

²Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, ²saying,

“I called to the Lord out of my distress,

and he answered me;

out of the belly of Sheol I cried,

and you heard my voice.

³You cast me into the deep,

into the heart of the seas,

and the flood surrounded me;

all your waves and your billows

passed over me.^*

⁴Then I said, ‘I am driven away

from your sight;

how^d shall I look again

upon your holy temple?’^*

⁵The waters closed in over me;

the deep surrounded me;

weeds were wrapped around my head^*

⁶at the roots of the mountains.

I went down to the land

whose bars closed upon me forever;

yet you brought up my life from the Pit,

O Lord my God.^*

⁷As my life was ebbing away,

I remembered the Lord,

and my prayer came to you,

into your holy temple.^*

⁸Those who worship vain idols

forsake their true loyalty.^*

⁹But I with the voice of thanksgiving

will sacrifice to you;

what I have vowed I will pay.

Deliverance belongs to the Lord!”^*

¹⁰Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out onto the dry land.