Jonah 1:1-3:5
New Catholic Bible
Recalcitrant Prophet[a]
Chapter 1
1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai: 2 “Go immediately to the great city of Nineveh and denounce it, for their wickedness has revealed itself to me.” 3 But Jonah decided to run away from the Lord and flee to Tarshish.[b] He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship that was about to sail to Tarshish. He paid his fare and boarded the ship to journey with the sailors to Tarshish, and away from the presence of the Lord.
4 However, the Lord caused a violent wind to stir up the sea, and such a furious storm arose that the ship seemed to be on the verge of breaking up. 5 The sailors were terror-stricken, and each of them cried out to his god. They also lightened the weight of the ship by throwing the cargo overboard.
Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship and was lying there fast asleep. 6 The captain found him there and said, “What are you doing there, sound asleep? Get up and call upon your God. Perhaps he will take pity on us and not allow us to perish.”
7 The sailors then said to each other, “Let us cast lots so that we can discover who is to blame for bringing us this bad luck.” Therefore, 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? What is your nationality?” 9 Jonah replied, “I am a Hebrew. I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
10 On hearing this, the sailors were even more terrified, and they said to him, “How could you have done this to us?” For they knew that he was fleeing from the Lord because he had told them so. 11 Then they said, “What shall we do with you to make the sea calm down for us?” For the sea was becoming increasingly more turbulent. 12 Jonah replied, “Pick me up and throw me overboard. Then the sea will calm down for you. I know it is my fault that this great storm has struck you.”
13 Even so, the sailors rowed with all their might to reach the shore, but they were unable to do so inasmuch as the sea was becoming increasingly turbulent. 14 Finally they cried out to the Lord, “Do not allow us to perish, Lord, for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us responsible for causing the death of an innocent man. For you yourself, O Lord, have brought this all about.” 15 Then they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the raging of the sea subsided. 16 On witnessing this, the men were seized by a great fear of the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.
Chapter 2
1 Then the Lord ordained that a large fish would swallow Jonah and he remained in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.
Prayer of Deliverance[c]
2 Then from the belly of the fish Jonah offered this prayer to the Lord, his God:
3 In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
From the belly of the netherworld I cried out for help,
and you heard my voice.
4 For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the sea,
and the flood enveloped me;
all your waves and your billows swept over me.
5 Then I thought, “I have been banished from your sight.
Will I ever be allowed again
to look upon your holy temple?”
6 The waters around me rose to my neck,
and the deep was closing around me;
seaweed was twined around my head.
7 Down I plunged to the roots of the mountains,
sinking to the netherworld
whose bars would imprison me forever.
But you brought me up alive from the pit,
O Lord, my God.
8 As my life was ebbing away,
I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer reached you
in your holy temple.
9 Those who worship false gods
abandon the source of their mercy.
10 But I with hymns of praise
will offer sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will fulfill.
Salvation comes from the Lord.
11 Then, in response to a command from the Lord, the fish spewed Jonah out upon the land.
An Unforeseen Success
Chapter 3
1 The word of the Lord then came to Jonah for a second time: 2 “Set out for the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”[d] 3 Therefore, Jonah set out and journeyed to Nineveh in obedience to the command of the Lord.
Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city; it required three days simply to walk across it. 4 Jonah began his journey into the city, walking for an entire day. Then he proclaimed, “After forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The people of Nineveh believed this message from God. They proclaimed a fast, and everyone, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
Footnotes
- Jonah 1:1 The story of the whale resembles stories told among all the coastal peoples of the Mediterranean basin. It serves simply to end the whole episode, in the atmosphere of the marvelous, that pervades the entire account. Jesus will use Jonah’s experience with the whale as an image of his own burial and resurrection (see Mt 12:39-40; Lk 11:29-30).
- Jonah 1:3 Tarshish: perhaps Tartessos in Spain, a seaport that marked the outer limits of communication. Joppa: the Mediterranean port for Jerusalem.
- Jonah 2:2 The author inserts, here, an appeal whose images give a vivid description of every kind of distress (see Ps 69:1-2, 15).
- Jonah 3:2 Nineveh is described as a city of very unlikely size. The story required that this very pagan city be immense.
