Jonah 1:1-3

English Standard Version

Jonah Flees the Presence of the Lord

1 Now the word of the Lord came to ^(A)Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ²“Arise, go to ^(B)Nineveh, that ^(C)great city, and call out against it, ^(D)for their evil^[a] has come up before me.” ³But Jonah ^(E)rose to flee to ^(F)Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to ^(G)Joppa and found a ship going to ^(H)Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to ^(I)Tarshish, ^(J)away from the presence of the Lord.

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Footnotes

Jonah 1:2 The same Hebrew word can mean evil or disaster, depending on the context; so throughout Jonah

Jonah 2

English Standard Version

Jonah's Prayer

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

^(A)“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
    and he answered me;
^(B)out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
    ^(C)and you heard my voice.
³^(D)For you cast me into the deep,
    into the heart of the seas,
    and the flood surrounded me;
^(E)all your waves and your billows
    passed over me.
⁴^(F)Then I said, ‘I am driven away
    from your sight;
^(G)yet I shall again look
    upon your holy temple.’
⁵^(H)The waters closed in over me ^(I)to take my life;
    the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
⁶    at 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.
⁷When my life was fainting away,
    I remembered the Lord,
^(J)and my prayer came to you,
    into your holy temple.
⁸^(K)Those who pay regard to vain idols
    ^(L)forsake their hope of steadfast love.
⁹^(M)But I with the voice of thanksgiving
    will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
    ^(N)Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

¹⁰And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

Jonah 3:1-5

English Standard Version

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ²“Arise, go to ^(A)Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” ³So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now ^(B)Nineveh was an exceedingly great city,^[a] three days' journey in breadth.^[b] ⁴Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” ⁵^(C)And the people of Nineveh believed God. ^(D)They called for a fast and ^(E)put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

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Footnotes

Jonah 3:3 Hebrew a great city to God
Jonah 3:3 Or a visit was a three days' journey

Jonah 3:6-9

English Standard Version

The People of Nineveh Repent

⁶The word reached^[a] the king of Nineveh, and ^(A)he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, ^(B)and sat in ashes. ⁷And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, ^(C)“By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor ^(D)beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, ⁸but let man and ^(E)beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. ^(F)Let everyone turn from his evil way and from ^(G)the violence that is in his hands. ⁹^(H)Who knows? God may turn and relent ^(I)and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

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Footnotes

Jonah 3:6 Or had reached

Jonah 4:1-3

English Standard Version

Jonah's Anger and the Lord's Compassion

4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,^[a] and ^(A)he was angry. ²And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? ^(B)That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a ^(C)gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and ^(D)relenting from disaster. ³^(E)Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, ^(F)for it is better for me to die than to live.”