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,

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?”

The Jerusalem Council

1 ^yBut some men came down from Judea and were teaching ^zthe brothers, “Unless you are ^acircumcised ^baccording to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and ^cdebate with them, Paul and Barnabas and ^dsome of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to ^ethe apostles and the elders about this question. 3 So, ^fbeing sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, ^gdescribing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and ^hbrought great joy to all ⁱthe brothers.¹ 4 ^jWhen they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and ^kthe apostles and the elders, and ^gthey declared all that God had done with them. 5 But some believers who belonged to ^lthe party of the Pharisees rose up and said, ^m“It is necessary ⁿto circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

6 ^oThe ^kapostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. 7 And after there had been much ^pdebate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, ^qthat by my mouth the Gentiles should hear ^rthe word of ^sthe gospel and believe. 8 And God, ^twho knows the heart, ^ubore witness to them, ^vby giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and ^whe made no distinction between us and them, ^xhaving cleansed their hearts ^yby faith. 10 Now, therefore, why ^zare you putting God to the test ^aby placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples ^bthat neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we ^cbelieve that we will be ^dsaved through ^ethe grace of the Lord Jesus, ^wjust as they will.”

12 And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul ^fas they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 After they finished speaking, ^gJames replied, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 ^hSimeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them ⁱa people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,

19 Therefore ⁿmy judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who ^oturn to God, 20 but should write to them ^pto abstain from ^qthe things polluted by idols, and from ^rsexual immorality, and from ^swhat has been strangled, and from ^sblood. 21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, ^tfor he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”