Jonah 1; Jonah 2; Jonah 3; Jonah 4

1 The Lord spoke his word to Jonah son of Amittai:

2 "Get up, go to the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it, because I see the evil things they do."

3 But Jonah got up to run away from the Lord by going to Tarshish. He went to the city of Joppa, where he found a ship that was going to the city of Tarshish. Jonah paid for the trip and went aboard, planning to go to Tarshish to run away from the Lord.

4 But the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, which made the sea so stormy that the ship was in danger of breaking apart.

5 The sailors were afraid, and each man cried to his own god. They began throwing the cargo from the ship into the sea to make the ship lighter. But Jonah had gone down far inside the ship to lie down, and he fell fast asleep.

6 The captain of the ship came and said, "Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray to your god! Maybe your god will pay attention to us, and we won't die!"

7 Then the men said to each other, "Let's throw lots to see who caused these troubles to happen to us." When they threw lots, the lot showed that the trouble had happened because of Jonah.

8 Then they said to him, "Tell us, who caused our trouble? What is your job? Where do you come from? What is your country? Who are your people?"

9 Then Jonah said to them, "I am a Hebrew. I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."

10 The men were very afraid, and they asked Jonah, "What terrible thing did you do?" (They knew he was running away from the Lord because he had told them.)

11 Since the wind and the waves of the sea were becoming much stronger, they said to him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"

12 Jonah said to them, "Pick me up, and throw me into the sea, and then it will calm down. I know it is my fault that this great storm has come on you."

13 Instead, the men tried to row the ship back to the land, but they could not, because the sea was becoming more stormy.

14 So the men cried to the Lord, "Lord, please don't let us die because of this man's life; please don't think we are guilty of killing an innocent person. Lord, you have caused all this to happen; you wanted it this way."

15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea became calm.

16 Then they began to fear the Lord very much; they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made promises to him.

17 The Lord caused a big fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

1 While Jonah was inside the fish, he prayed to the Lord his God and said,

2 "When I was in danger, I called to the Lord, and he answered me. I was about to die, so I cried to you, and you heard my voice.

3 You threw me into the sea, down, down into the deep sea. The water was all around me, and your powerful waves flowed over me.

4 I said, 'I was driven out of your presence, but I hope to see your Holy Temple again.'

5 The waters of the sea closed around my throat. The deep sea was all around me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.

6 When I went down to where the mountains of the sea start to rise, I thought I was locked in this prison forever, but you saved me from the pit of death, Lord my God.

7 "When my life had almost gone, I remembered the Lord. I prayed to you, and you heard my prayers in your Holy Temple.

8 "People who worship useless idols give up their loyalty to you.

9 But I will praise and thank you while I give sacrifices to you, and I will keep my promises to you.

10 Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and the fish threw up Jonah onto the dry land.

1 The Lord spoke his word to Jonah again and said,

2 "Get up, go to the great city Nineveh, and preach to it what I tell you to say."

3 So Jonah obeyed the Lord and got up and went to Nineveh. It was a very large city; just to walk across it took a person three days.

4 After Jonah had entered the city and walked for one day, he preached to the people, saying, "After forty days, Nineveh will be destroyed!"

5 The people of Nineveh believed God. They announced that they would stop eating for a while, and they put on rough cloth to show their sadness. All the people in the city did this, from the most important to the least important.

6 When the king of Nineveh heard this news, he got up from his throne, took off his robe, and covered himself with rough cloth and sat in ashes to show how upset he was.

7 He sent this announcement through Nineveh: By command of the king and his important men: No person or animal, herd or flock, will be allowed to taste anything. Do not let them eat food or drink water.

8 But every person and animal should be covered with rough cloth, and people should cry loudly to God. Everyone must turn away from evil living and stop doing harm all the time.

9 Who knows? Maybe God will change his mind. Maybe he will stop being angry, and then we will not die.

10 When God saw what the people did, that they stopped doing evil, he changed his mind and did not do what he had warned. He did not punish them.

1 But this made Jonah very unhappy, and he became angry.

2 He prayed to the Lord, "When I was still in my own country this is what I said would happen, and that is why I quickly ran away to Tarshish. I knew that you are a God who is kind and shows mercy. You don't become angry quickly, and you have great love. I knew you would choose not to cause harm.

3 So now I ask you, Lord, please kill me. It is better for me to die than to live."

4 Then the Lord said, "Do you think it is right for you to be angry?"

5 Jonah went out and sat down east of the city. There he made a shelter for himself and sat in the shade, waiting to see what would happen to the city.

6 The Lord made a plant grow quickly up over Jonah, which gave him shade and helped him to be more comfortable. Jonah was very pleased to have the plant.

7 But the next day when the sun rose, God sent a worm to attack the plant so that it died.

8 As the sun rose higher in the sky, God sent a very hot east wind to blow, and the sun became so hot on Jonah's head that he became very weak and wished he were dead. He said, "It is better for me to die than to live."

9 But God said to Jonah, "Do you think it is right for you to be angry about the plant?" Jonah answered, "It is right for me to be angry! I am so angry I could die!"

10 And the Lord said, "You are so concerned for that plant even though you did nothing to make it grow. It appeared one day, and the next day it died.

11 Then shouldn't I show concern for the great city Nineveh, which has more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know right from wrong, and many animals, too?"