Jonah Flees the Presence of the Lord
1 Now the word of the Lord came to aJonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to bNineveh, that cgreat city, and call out against it, dfor their evil1 has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah erose to flee to fTarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to gJoppa and found a ship going to fTarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to fTarshish, haway from the presence of the Lord.
4 But ithe Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened jto break up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and keach cried out to his god. And lthey hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, kcall out to your god! mPerhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”
Jonah Is Thrown into the Sea
7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us ncast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear othe Lord, the God of heaven, pwho made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that hhe was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, qfor I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard2 to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and rlay not on us innocent blood, sfor you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, tand the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, uand they offered a sacrifice to the Lord vand made vows.
A Great Fish Swallows Jonah
17 3 And the Lord appointed4 a great fish to swallow up Jonah. wAnd Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah’s Prayer
1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,
x“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
yout of the belly of Sheol I cried,
zand you heard my voice.
3 aFor you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
ball your waves and your billows
passed over me.
4 cThen I said, ‘I am driven away
from your sight;
dyet I shall again look
upon your holy temple.’
5 eThe waters closed in over me fto take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
6 at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God.
7 When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
gand my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
8 hThose who pay regard to vain idols
iforsake their hope of steadfast love.
9 jBut I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
kSalvation belongs to the Lord!”
10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
Jonah Goes to Nineveh
1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to lNineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now lNineveh was an exceedingly great city,5 three days’ journey in breadth.6 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 mAnd the people of Nineveh believed God. nThey called for a fast and oput on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
The People of Nineveh Repent
6 The word reached7 the king of Nineveh, and phe arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, qand sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, r“By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor sbeast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and sbeast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. tLet everyone turn from his evil way and from uthe violence that is in his hands. 9 vWho knows? God may turn and relent wand turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
10 When God saw what they did, xhow they turned from their evil way, xGod relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
Jonah’s Anger and the Lord’s Compassion
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,8 and yhe was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? zThat is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a agracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and arelenting from disaster. 3 bTherefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, cfor it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, d“Do you do well to be angry?”
5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and emade a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant9 and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort.10 So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching feast wind, gand the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he hwas faint. And he asked that he might die and said, c“It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, i“Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity jNineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much kcattle?”
1 The words of Amos, who was among the ashepherds1 of bTekoa, which he saw concerning Israel cin the days of dUzziah king of Judah and in the days of eJeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years2 before fthe earthquake.
Judgment on Israel’s Neighbors
2 And he said:
g“The Lord roars from Zion
and utters his voice from Jerusalem;
hthe pastures of the shepherds mourn,
3 Thus says the Lord:
k“For three transgressions of lDamascus,
and for four, lI will not revoke the punishment,3
because they have threshed mGilead
with threshing sledges of iron.
4 nSo I will send a fire upon the house of oHazael,
and it shall devour the strongholds of oBen-hadad.
5 I will pbreak the gate-bar of lDamascus,
and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of qAven,4
and him who holds the scepter from rBeth-eden;
and the people of sSyria shall go into exile to tKir,”
says the Lord.
6 Thus says the Lord:
k“For three transgressions of uGaza,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because vthey carried into exile a whole people
to deliver them up to Edom.
7 So I will send a fire upon the wall of uGaza,
and it shall devour her strongholds.
8 I will cut off the inhabitants from wAshdod,
and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,”
says the Lord God.
9 Thus says the Lord:
k“For three transgressions of xTyre,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they delivered up a whole people to Edom,
and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
10 So I will send a fire upon the wall of xTyre,
and it shall devour her strongholds.”
11 Thus says the Lord:
k“For three transgressions of yEdom,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
ybecause he pursued his brother with the sword
zand cast off all pity,
aand his anger tore perpetually,
aand he kept his wrath forever.
12 So I will send a fire upon bTeman,
and it shall devour the strongholds of cBozrah.”
13 Thus says the Lord:
k“For three transgressions of the dAmmonites,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because ethey have ripped open pregnant women in fGilead,
that they might enlarge their border.
14 So I will kindle a fire in the wall of gRabbah,
hand it shall devour her strongholds,
with shouting on the day of battle,
hwith a tempest in the day of the whirlwind;
15 and itheir king shall go into exile,
he and his princes5 together,”
says the Lord.
1 Thus says the Lord:
k“For three transgressions of jMoab,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,6
because khe burned to lime
the bones of the king of Edom.
2 So I will send a fire upon Moab,
and it shall devour the strongholds of lKerioth,
and Moab shall die amid uproar,
amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;
3 mI will cut off the ruler from its midst,
and will kill mall its princes7 with him,”
says the Lord.
Judgment on Judah
4 Thus says the Lord:
n“For three transgressions of Judah,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because othey have rejected the law of the Lord,
and have not kept his statutes,
but ptheir lies have led them astray,
those after which their fathers walked.
5 So qI will send a fire upon Judah,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.”
Judgment on Israel
6 Thus says the Lord:
n“For three transgressions of Israel,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because rthey sell the righteous for ssilver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals—
7 those who trample the head of the poor tinto the dust of the earth
and uturn aside the way of the afflicted;
va man and his father go in to the same girl,
so that my holy name is profaned;
8 they lay themselves down beside every altar
on garments wtaken in pledge,
and in the house of their God they drink
the wine of those who have been fined.
9 “Yet xit was I who destroyed the Amorite before them,
ywhose height was like the height of the cedars
and who was as strong as the oaks;
zI destroyed his fruit above
and his roots beneath.
10 aAlso it was I who brought you up out of the land of Egypt
band led you forty years in the wilderness,
xto possess the land of the Amorite.
11 And I raised up some of your sons for prophets,
and some of your young men for cNazirites.
Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?”
declares the Lord.
12 “But you made the Nazirites ddrink wine,
and commanded the prophets,
saying, e‘You shall not prophesy.’
13 “Behold, I will press you down in your place,
as a cart full of sheaves presses down.
14 fFlight shall perish from the swift,
fand the strong shall not retain his strength,
gnor shall the mighty save his life;
15 he who handles the bow shall not stand,
and he who is hswift of foot shall not save himself,
inor shall he who rides the horse save his life;
16 and he who is stout of heart among the mighty
shall flee away naked in that day,”
declares the Lord.
