Jonathan Jonah

Jonah Flees by Sea

1 And this was the word of prophecy from the LORD to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Get up, go to Nineveh, the great city, and prophesy against it, for their evil has risen before Me.” 3 And Jonah got up to flee by sea before he would prophesy in the name of the LORD, and went down to Joppa and found a ship that was heading out to sea, and he paid the fare and went aboard to go with them by sea before he would prophesy in the name of the LORD.

4 And the LORD raised a great wind on the sea, and there was a great storm at sea, and the boat was about to break apart. 5 And the sailors were afraid, and each man pleaded with his idol, and they saw that it was of no use, and they threw the cargo that was on the ship into the sea to lighten it, and Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the ship’s hold and lay down and slept.

6 And the captain of the sailors came to him and said to him, “Why are you sleeping? Get up, pray before your God! Perhaps the LORD will have mercy on us, and we will not be lost!”

7 And they said, to one another, “Come, let’s cast lots, and we’ll know whose fault this disaster is.” And they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.

8 And they said to him, “Tell us now, whose fault is this disaster? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country, and what people do you belong to?”

9 And he said to them, “I am a Jew, and I revere the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

10 And the men were terrified, and said to him, “What have you done?” because the men knew that he was fleeing from the LORD, since he had told them.

11 And they said to him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm around us?” For the sea was growing more and more stormy.

12 And he said to them, “Lift me up and throw me into the sea, and the sea will calm down around you. For I know that it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.”

13 And the men rowed to get back to dry land, but they could not, because the sea was growing more and more stormy around them.

14 And they prayed before the LORD and said, “Hear our pleas, LORD! Please do not let us die for taking this man’s life, and do not hold us guilty of shedding innocent blood! For You are the LORD. You do whatever pleases You!”

15 And they lifted up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea calmed from its storm. 16 And the men felt great reverence for the LORD, and they said they would offer sacrifices before the LORD and make vows.

Jonah’s Prayer

1 And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the fish’s belly for three days and three nights. 2 And Jonah prayed before the LORD his God from the fish’s belly.

3 And he said, “In my distress I prayed before the LORD, and He received my prayer. From the lowest depths I pleaded, You acted on my plea. 4 And You threw me into the depths, into the heart of the sea, and the flood surrounded me. All the sea’s storms and waves passed over me. 5 And I had said, ‘I have been driven out from before Your Word. Yet I will look again at the holy temple.’

6 The waters surrounded me, threatening death. The depths surrounded me. The Red Sea hung above my head. 7 I went down to the roots of the mountains. The earth closed over me with its strength forever. And You are near. It is in Your power to bring my life up from destruction, LORD my God.

8 When my soul grew faint within me, I remembered worshiping the LORD, and my prayer came before You, to Your holy temple. 9 I am not like the nations that worship idols. They do not know the source of their well-being. 10 And I, with thankful praise, will offer my sacrifices before You. I will fulfill what I pledged. My life is rescued through prayer before the LORD!”

11 And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it spat out Jonah onto dry land.

Nineveh Turns from Evil

1 And this was the word of prophecy from the LORD to Jonah a second time, saying, 2 “Get up, go to Nineveh, the great city, and prophesy against it the prophecy that I command you.”

3 And Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the word of the LORD, and Nineveh was a great city before the LORD with a three-day walk across it. 4 And Jonah began to enter the city, a day’s walk in, and he announced and said, “At the end of forty days Nineveh will be overturned!”

5 And the people of Nineveh believed the Word of the LORD, and they decreed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the smallest.

6 And the news reached the king of Nineveh, and he got up from his royal throne and took off his valuable robes and covered himself in sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7 And he called out and said in Nineveh, “By decree of the king and his officials, people and animals, cattle and sheep, must not taste anything, graze, or drink water.

8 “People and animals must be covered in sackcloth and pray earnestly before the LORD, and each person must turn from his wicked way and from the violence in their hands.

9 “Whoever knows they are guilty of sins must turn away from them. Then the LORD will have mercy on them and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we will not die.”

10 And their acts were revealed before God, that they had turned from their evil ways, and God turned away the disaster He had said He would bring on them and did not do it.

Jonah and the Plant

1 And Jonah was deeply displeased by this, and he became angry. 2 And he prayed before the LORD and said: “Hear my plea, LORD! Isn’t this what I said would happen while I was still in my own land? This is why I hurried to flee to the sea, since I know that You, God, are merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in doing good, and You draw back Your Word from bringing about evil. 3 And now, LORD, please take my life from me, because I would rather die than live.”

4 And the LORD said, “Are you so angry?”

5 And Jonah went out from the city and sat east of the city and built a hut there and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would finally happen to the city. 6 And the LORD God appointed a castor oil plant, and it grew up over Jonah to be shade over his head, to shelter him from his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the castor oil plant.

7 And the LORD appointed a worm at dawn on the next day, and it struck the castor oil plant and it wilted. 8 And when the sun rose, the LORD provided a gentle east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head, and he grew faint and asked to die, saying, “I would rather die than live.”

9 And the LORD said to Jonah, “Are you so angry about that castor oil plant?” And he said, “Yes, I’m so angry I want to die!”

10 And the LORD said, “You pitied the castor oil plant which you didn’t work for and you didn’t grow. One night it was there and the next it was gone.

11 “And shouldn’t I have mercy on Nineveh, the great city which has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who don’t know the difference between their right hand and their left, and many animals too?”