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, for their evil1 has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, daway from the presence of the Lord.
4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and ethere was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. 5 Then fthe mariners were afraid, and each gcried out to his god. And they 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 hwas fast asleep. 6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! iPerhaps the god will give a thought to us, jthat we may not perish.”
Jonah Is Thrown into the Sea
7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us kcast 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 the Lord, the lGod of heaven, mwho 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 he 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, for 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 nlay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have odone as it pleased you.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and pthe sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men qfeared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
A Great Fish Swallows Jonah
17 3 And the Lord rappointed4 a great fish to swallow up Jonah. sAnd 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,
“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
tand he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.
3 For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
uall your breakers and your waves
passed over me.
4 Then I said, v‘I am driven away
from your sight;
yet I shall again look
upon your holy temple.’
5 The waters closed in over me to take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head.
6 To 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,
and wmy prayer came to you,
xinto your holy temple.
8 Those who pay regard to yvain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
zSalvation 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 asecond time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that bgreat 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 Nineveh 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 cAnd the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put 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 he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither dman nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them ecall out mightily to God. Let everyone fturn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 gWho knows? hGod may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God irelented 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 he 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? That is why jI made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a kgracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, lplease take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made 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 mappointed 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 neast wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “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 Nineveh, that ogreat city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, pand also much cattle?”
1 The words of Amos, awho was among the shepherds1 of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of bUzziah king of Judah and in the days of cJeroboam the son of dJoash, king of Israel, two years2 before the eearthquake.
Judgment on Israel’s Neighbors
2 And he said:
and utters his voice from Jerusalem;
the pastures of the shepherds mourn,
and the top of hCarmel withers.”
3 iThus says the Lord:
“For jthree transgressions of Damascus,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,3
because they have threshed Gilead
with threshing sledges of iron.
4 kSo I will send a fire upon the house of lHazael,
and it shall devour the strongholds of mBen-hadad.
5 I will break the gate-bar of Damascus,
and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven,4
and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden;
and the people of Syria shall go into exile to nKir,”
says the Lord.
6 oThus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of pGaza,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they carried into exile a whole people
to deliver them up to Edom.
7 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza,
and it shall devour her strongholds.
8 I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod,
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 qThus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of Tyre,
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 Tyre,
and it shall devour her strongholds.”
11 rThus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of Edom,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
sbecause he pursued his brother with the sword
and cast off all pity,
and his anger tore tperpetually,
and he kept his wrath forever.
12 So I will send a fire upon Teman,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.”
13 uThus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of the Ammonites,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they have vripped open pregnant women in Gilead,
that they might enlarge their border.
14 So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah,
and it shall devour her strongholds,
with shouting on the day of battle,
with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind;
15 and wtheir king shall go into exile,
he and his princes5 together,”
says the Lord.
1 xThus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of Moab,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,6
because he 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 Kerioth,
and Moab shall die amid uproar,
amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;
3 I will cut off the ruler from its midst,
and will kill all its princes7 with him,”
says the Lord.
Judgment on Judah
4 Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of Judah,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they have yrejected the law of the Lord,
and have not kept his statutes,
but their lies have led them astray,
those after which their fathers walked.
5 So zI will send a fire upon Judah,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.”
Judgment on Israel
6 Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of Israel,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they asell the righteous bfor silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals—
7 those who ctrample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth
and turn aside the way of the afflicted;
a 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 taken in dpledge,
and in the house of their God they drink
the wine of those who have been fined.
9 “Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them,
ewhose height was like the height of the cedars
and who was as strong as the oaks;
I destroyed his fruit above
fand his roots beneath.
10 Also it was I who brought you up out of the land of Egypt
and led you forty years in the wilderness,
to possess the land of the Amorite.
11 And I raised up some of your sons for prophets,
and some of your young men for gNazirites.
Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?”
declares the Lord.
12 “But you made the Nazirites drink wine,
and commanded the prophets,
saying, h‘You shall not prophesy.’
13 “Behold, I will press you down in your place,
as a cart full of sheaves presses down.
14 Flight shall perish from the swift,
and the strong shall not retain his strength,
nor shall the mighty save his life;
15 he who handles the bow shall not stand,
and he who is swift of foot shall not save himself,
nor 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.
