Old/New Testament

The Call of Jonah

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, ² “Get up, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry out against it, because their wickedness has come up before Me.”

³ But Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found there a ship going to Tarshish. He paid its fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

⁴ But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and a mighty storm came upon the sea, so that the ship was in danger of breaking up. ⁵ Then the sailors were afraid, and each cried to his god. They tossed the ship’s cargo into the sea in order to lighten the load.

But Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. ⁶ The captain came to him and said, “What are you doing asleep? Get up, call to your god! Perhaps your god will consider us, so that we will not perish.”

⁷ The sailors said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this disaster has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

⁸ Then the sailors said to Jonah, “Tell us why this disaster has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And from what people are you?”

⁹ Jonah replied, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

¹⁰ Then the men were very afraid and said to him, “What is this you have done?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them.

¹¹ Then they said to Jonah, “What shall we do to you, so that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea was growing stormier.

¹² So Jonah said to them, “Pick me up and toss me into the sea. Then the sea will quiet down for you. For I know that it is on my account this great storm has come upon you.”

¹³ Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to bring the ship to land, but they could not do it, for the sea grew more tempestuous against them. ¹⁴ Then they cried to the Lord and said, “Please, Lord, do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not make us guilty for innocent blood, for You, Lord, have done as it pleased You.” ¹⁵ So they picked up Jonah and tossed him into the sea. Then the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶ Therefore the men were very afraid of the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

The Prayer and Deliverance of Jonah

¹⁷ Now the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish. ² He said:

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

Jonah Preaches at Nineveh

3 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, ² “Get up, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.”

³ So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three-day journey across. ⁴ Jonah began to enter the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “In forty days’ time, Nineveh will be overthrown!” ⁵ So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast. And everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

⁶ When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself in sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷ Then he made a proclamation in Nineveh:

“By decree of the king and his nobles:

No man or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not eat or drink water. ⁸ Both man and animals shall cover themselves with sackcloth and cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. ⁹ Who knows? God may relent and change His mind. He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”

¹⁰ When God saw their actions, that they turned from their evil ways, He changed His mind about the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

Jonah’s Anger and the Lord’s Compassion

4 Now this greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry. ² He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is this not what I said while I was still in my own land? This is the reason that I fled before to Tarshish, because I knew that You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in faithfulness, and ready to relent from punishment. ³ Therefore, Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

⁴ Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

⁵ So Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city and made for himself a booth there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would happen to the city. ⁶ Then the Lord God appointed a plant, and it grew up over Jonah to provide shade over his head, to provide comfort from his grief. And Jonah was very happy about the plant. ⁷ But at dawn the next day, God appointed a worm to attack the plant so that it withered. ⁸ When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah so that he became faint and asked that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

⁹ Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

And Jonah replied, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death.”

¹⁰ The Lord said, “You are troubled about the plant for which you did not labor and did not grow. It came up in a night and perished in a night. ¹¹ Should I not, therefore, be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people, who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”

The Angel and the Little Scroll

10 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud and a rainbow on his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. ² He had a little scroll open in his hand. He set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, ³ and cried out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he cried out, seven thunders sounded their voices. ⁴ And when the seven thunders sounded their voices, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Seal up those things which the seven thunders said, and do not write them.”

⁵ The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the earth lifted up his hand to heaven ⁶ and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in them, and the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be no more delay. ⁷ But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, as He has declared to His servants the prophets.

⁸ Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the little scroll which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the earth.”

⁹ So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little scroll.” He said to me, “Take it and eat it. ‘It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’^[a]” ¹⁰ I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. ¹¹ Then he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”