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.

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,¹ three days’ journey in breadth.² 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 reached³ 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.

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?”