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“Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
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The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”
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So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”
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The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”
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“Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”
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Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.
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Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.
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At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.
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He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.
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You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.
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The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
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To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit.
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“Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
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When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.
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Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
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Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.
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When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
