Jonah 1:17-4:11

New American Standard Bible

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

Jonah’s Prayer

2 ^[b]Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God ^(B)from the stomach of the fish, ² and he said,

¹⁰ Then the Lord commanded the ^(V)fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

Nineveh Repents

3 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ² “Arise, go to ^(W)Nineveh, the great city, and ^(X)proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.” ³ So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was ^[i]an ^(Y)exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk. ⁴ Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he ^(Z)cried out and said, “Forty more days, and Nineveh will be overthrown.”

⁵ Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a ^(AA)fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. ⁶ When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, removed his robe from himself, ^(AB)covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ^[j]dust. ⁷ And he issued a ^(AC)proclamation, and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: No person, animal, herd, or flock is to taste anything. They are not to eat, or drink water. ⁸ But every person and animal must be covered with sackcloth; and people are to ^(AD)call on God vehemently, and they are to ^(AE)turn, each one from his evil way, and from the violence which is in their hands. ^9 (AF)Who knows, God may turn and relent, and turn from His burning anger so that we will not perish.”

¹⁰ When God saw their deeds, that they ^(AG)turned from their evil way, then ^(AH)God relented of the disaster which He had declared He would ^[k]bring on them. So He did not do it.

Jonah’s Displeasure Rebuked

4 But it greatly displeased Jonah, and he became ^(AI)angry. ² Then he ^(AJ)prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was this not ^[l]what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore in anticipation of this I ^(AK)fled to Tarshish, since I knew that You are a ^(AL)gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in mercy, and One who relents of disaster. ³ So now, Lord, please ^(AM)take my ^[m]life from me, for death is ^(AN)better to me than life.” ⁴ But the Lord said, “Do you have a good reason to be angry?”

⁵ Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of ^[n]it. There he made a shelter for himself and ^(AO)sat under it in the shade, until he could see what would happen in the city. ⁶ So the Lord God designated a ^[o]plant, and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head, to ^[p]relieve him of his discomfort. And Jonah ^[q]was overjoyed about the plant. ⁷ But God designated a worm when dawn came the next day, and it attacked the plant and it ^(AP)withered. ⁸ And when the sun came up God designated a scorching ^(AQ)east wind, and the ^(AR)sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint, and he begged with all his soul to die, saying, “^(AS)Death is better to me than life!”

⁹ But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to the point of death!” ¹⁰ Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant, for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which ^[r]came up overnight and perished ^[s]overnight. ¹¹ Should I not also ^(AT)have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 people, who do not ^(AU)know the difference between their right hand and their left, as well as many ^(AV)animals?”