¹⁵ So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, ^(A)and the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶ Then the men ^(B)feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.

Jonah’s Prayer and Deliverance

¹⁷ Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And ^(C)Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

²¹ So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.

Balaam, the Donkey, and the Angel

²² Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, ^(A)and the Angel of the Lord took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³ Now ^(B)the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field. So Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back onto the road. ²⁴ Then the Angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. ²⁵ And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck her again. ²⁶ Then the Angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. ²⁷ And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff.

²⁸ Then the Lord ^(C)opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”

²⁹ And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have ^[a]abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, ^(D)for now I would kill you!”

^30 (E)So the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever ^[b]disposed to do this to you?”

And he said, “No.”

¹⁰ So the Lord ^(A)routed them before Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them along the road that goes ^(B)to Beth Horon, and struck them down as far as ^(C)Azekah and Makkedah. ¹¹ And it happened, as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth Horon, ^(D)that the Lord cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword.

³ “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. ⁴ And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ^(A)ravens to feed you there.”

⁵ So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. ⁶ The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.

^31 (A)It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.