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Jonah’s Disobedience
The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
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“Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry out against it, because their wickedness has come up before Me.”
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But Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship that was going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and boarded it to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the Lord.
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Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried out to his god, and they hurled the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the stern of the ship, had lain down, and fallen sound asleep.
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So the captain approached him and said, “How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.”
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Then they said to him, “Tell us, now! On whose account has this catastrophe struck us? What is your occupation, and where do you come from? What is your country, and from what people are you?”
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So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.”
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So they said to him, “What should we do to you so that the sea will become calm for us?”—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy.
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And he said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, because I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.”
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However, the men rowed desperately to return to land, but they could not, because the sea was becoming even stormier against them.
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Then they cried out to the 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 You, Lord, have done as You pleased.”
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So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.
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And the Lord designated a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish for three days and three nights.
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Jonah’s Prayer
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish,
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and he said, “I called out of my distress to the Lord, And He answered me. I called for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice.
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For You threw me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the current flowed around me. All Your breakers and waves passed over me.
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So I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’
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I descended to the base of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, But You have brought up my life from the pit, Lord my God.
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While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple.
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Those who are followers of worthless idols Abandon their faithfulness,
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But I will sacrifice to You With a voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.”
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Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.
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“Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.”
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Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Forty more days, and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
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Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
