Jonah 1-4

Complete Jewish Bible

1 The word of Adonai came to Yonah the son of Amitai: ² “Set out for the great city of Ninveh, and proclaim to it that their wickedness has come to my attention.”

³ But Yonah, in order to get away from Adonai, prepared to escape to Tarshish. He went down to Yafo, found a ship headed for Tarshish, paid the fare and went aboard, intending to travel with them to Tarshish and get away from Adonai. ⁴ However, Adonai let loose over the sea a violent wind, which created such stormy conditions that the ship threatened to break to pieces. ⁵ The sailors were frightened, and each cried out to his god. They threw the cargo overboard to make the ship easier for them to control.

Meanwhile, Yonah had gone down below into the hold, where he lay, fast asleep. ⁶ The ship’s captain found him and said to him, “What do you mean by sleeping? Get up! Call on your god! Maybe the god will remember us, and we won’t die.”

⁷ Then they said to each other, “Come, let’s draw lots to find out who is to blame for this calamity.” They drew lots, and Yonah was singled out. ⁸ They said to him, “Tell us now, why has this calamity come upon us? What work do you do? Where are you from? What is your country? Which is your people?” ⁹ He answered them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear Adonai, the God of heaven, who made both the sea and the dry land.” ¹⁰ At this the men grew very afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done?” For the men knew he was trying to get away from Adonai, since he had told them. ¹¹ They asked him, “What should we do to you, so that the sea will be calm for us?” — for the sea was getting rougher all the time. ¹² “Pick me up,” he told them, “and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you; because I know it’s my fault that this terrible storm has come over you.”

¹³ Nevertheless, the men rowed hard, trying to reach the shore. But they couldn’t, because the sea kept growing wilder against them. ¹⁴ Finally they cried to Adonai, “Please, Adonai, please! Don’t let us perish for causing the death of this man, and don’t hold us to account for shedding innocent blood; because you, Adonai, have done what you saw fit.” ¹⁵ Then they picked up Yonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging. ¹⁶ Seized with great fear of Adonai, they offered a sacrifice to Adonai and made vows.

2 ^(1:17) Adonai prepared a huge fish to swallow Yonah; and Yonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. ^2 (1) From the belly of the fish Yonah prayed to Adonai his God; ^3 (2) he said,

^11 (10) Then Adonai spoke to the fish, and it vomited Yonah out onto dry land.

3 The word of Adonai came to Yonah a second time: ² “Set out for the great city of Ninveh, and proclaim to it the message I will give you.” ³ So Yonah set out and went to Ninveh, as Adonai had said. Now Ninveh was such a large city that it took three days just to cross it. ⁴ Yonah began his entry into the city and had finished only his first day of proclaiming, ‘In forty days Ninveh will be overthrown,’ ⁵ when the people of Ninveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least. ⁶ When the news reached the king of Ninveh, he got up from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat in ashes. ⁷ He then had this proclamation made throughout Ninveh: “By decree of the king and his nobles, no person or animal, herd or flock, is to put anything in his mouth; they are neither to eat nor drink water. ⁸ They must be covered with sackcloth, both people and animals; and they are to cry out to God with all their might — let each of them turn from his evil way and from the violence they practice. ⁹ Who knows? Maybe God will change his mind, relent and turn from his fierce anger; and then we won’t perish.”

¹⁰ When God saw by their deeds that they had turned from their evil way, he relented and did not bring on them the punishment he had threatened.

4 But this was very displeasing to Yonah, and he became angry. ² He prayed to Adonai, “Now, Adonai, didn’t I say this would happen, when I was still in my own country? That’s why I tried to get away to Tarshish ahead of time! I knew you were a God who is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in grace, and that you relent from inflicting punishment. ³ Therefore, Adonai, please, just take my life away from me; it’s better for me to be dead than alive!” ⁴ Adonai asked, “Is it right for you to be so angry?”

⁵ Yonah left the city and found a place east of the city, where he made himself a shelter and sat down under it, in its shade, to see what would happen to the city. ⁶ Adonai, God, prepared a castor-bean plant and made it grow up over Yonah to shade his head and relieve his discomfort. So Yonah was delighted with the castor-bean plant. ⁷ But at dawn the next day God prepared a worm, which attacked the castor-bean plant, so that it dried up. ⁸ Then, when the sun rose, God prepared a scorching east wind; and the sun beat down on Yonah’s head so hard that he grew faint and begged that he could die, saying, “I would be better off dead than alive.”

⁹ God asked Yonah, “Is it right for you to be so angry about the castor-bean plant?” He answered, “Yes, it’s right for me to be so angry that I could die!” ¹⁰ Adonai said, “You’re concerned over the castor-bean plant, which cost you no effort; you didn’t make it grow; it came up in a night and perished in a night. ¹¹ So shouldn’t I be concerned about the great city of Ninveh, in which there are more than 120,000 people who don’t know their right hand from their left — not to mention all the animals?”