The Watchman’s Duty

33 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, speak to the ^(A)sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, ³ and he sees the sword coming upon the land and ^(B)blows the ^[a]horn and warns the people, ⁴ then ^[b]someone who hears the sound of the horn but ^(C)does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his ^(D)blood will be on his own head. ⁵ He heard the sound of the horn but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have ^(E)saved his life. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the horn and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is ^(F)taken away for his wrongdoing; but I will ^[c]require his ^(G)blood from the watchman’s hand.’

⁷ “Now as for you, son of man, I have ^[d](H)appointed you as a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a ^[e]message from My mouth and give them a ^(I)warning from Me. ⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will ^(J)certainly die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked about his way, that wicked person shall die for his wrongdoing, but I will ^[f]require his blood from your hand. ⁹ But if you on your part warn a wicked person to turn from his way and he ^(K)does not turn from his way, he will die for his wrongdoing, but you have ^(L)saved your life.

Jonah’s Disobedience

1 The word of the Lord came to ^(A)Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ² “Arise, go to ^(B)Nineveh, the great city, and ^(C)cry out against it, because their ^(D)wickedness has come up before Me.” ³ But Jonah got up to flee to ^(E)Tarshish ^(F)from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to ^(G)Joppa, found a ship that was going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and ^[a]boarded it to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the Lord.

⁴ However, the ^(H)Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea, so that the ship was about to ^[b]break up. ⁵ Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried out to ^(I)his ^[c]god, and they ^(J)hurled the ^[d]cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it ^[e]for them. But Jonah had gone below into the stern of the ship, had lain down, and fallen sound asleep. ⁶ So the captain approached him and said, “How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, ^(K)call on your god! Perhaps your ^(L)god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.”

⁷ And each man said to his mate, “Come, let’s ^(M)cast lots so that we may ^[f]find out on whose account this catastrophe has struck us.” So they cast lots, and the ^(N)lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ Then they said to him, “^(O)Tell us, now! On whose account has this catastrophe struck us? What is your ^(P)occupation, and where do you come from? What is your country, and from what people are you?” ⁹ So he said to them, “I am a ^(Q)Hebrew, and I ^(R)fear the Lord ^(S)God of heaven who ^(T)made the sea and the dry land.”

¹⁰ Then the men became extremely afraid, and they said to him, “^[g]How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was ^(U)fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. ¹¹ So they said to him, “What should we do to you so that the sea will become calm ^[h]for us?”—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. ¹² And he said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm ^[i]for you, because I know that ^(V)on account of me this great storm has come upon you.” ¹³ However, the men ^[j]rowed desperately to return to land, but they could not, because the sea was becoming even stormier against them. ¹⁴ Then they cried out to the ^(W)Lord 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 ^(X)You, Lord, have done as You pleased.”

¹⁵ So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ^(Y)stopped its raging. ¹⁶ Then the men became extremely afraid of the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made ^(Z)vows.

^17 [k]And the Lord designated a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the ^(AA)stomach of the fish for three days and three nights.