There was once a man named Jonah, the son of Amittai, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying:

“Rise and go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim against it.  For its wickedness has come to my attention.”

            Then Jonah rose to escape to Tarshish, away from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, found a ship heading to Tarshish, paid for his trip.  He went on board to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of Yahweh. 

            Yahweh hurled a great wind upon the sea so that there was a great storm and the ship threatened to break apart, so the sailors feared for their very lives.  Everyone cried to his own god!  They hurled the cargo of the vessel into the sea in order to lighten its load.

            Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the heart of the ship, stretched out and went into a deep sleep. The captain discovered him and said:

“How can you sleep?  Get up!  Cry to your God! Perhaps the god will take interest in us so that we will not perish.” 

Then the sailors said to one another:

“Come on! Let’s cast lots so we can see whose fault it is that this evil has fallen upon us.”

They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.  Then they said to him:

            “Tell us! On whose account has this evil fallen upon us?

            What is your occupation? Where do you come from?

            What is your country? From what nation are you?”

Jonah replied to them:

“I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.”

Then the men were overcome by a great fear and said to him:

“Why have you done this?”

You see, the men had learned that Jonah was trying to flee from Yahweh, for he had told them so.  They said to him:

“What shall we do with you, so that the sea will calm down for us?”

For the sea was growing more and more torturous.  He said to them:

“Take me and throw me into the sea: then the sea will grow calm for you. For I know that this that this great storm has come upon you because of me.”

Instead, the men rowed even harder to reach dry land, but were unable to do so, for the sea grew even more and more violent against them. Then they cried to Yahweh and said:

“Oh, Yahweh! Let us not perish because of this man’s life.  Do not lay on us innocent blood, for you, Yahweh, have done as it pleased you.”

Then they took Jonah and hurled him into the sea. Immediately the sea stopped ragging and the men feared Yahweh greatly.  They offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and made vows [see note 1]. 

Chapter Two: A “Fishy” Revival in the Belly of Hell 

2.1 [English 1.17] Yahweh appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah and he was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.  So Jonah prayed to Yahweh his God from inside the fish. He said:

            I called in my distress

            To Yahweh, and he responded to me.

            From the belly of hell I cried out;

            You heard my voice.

            You had thrown me into the deep

                                             Into the heart of the seas

            So that the current swirled about me.

            All your breakers and billows

            Passed right over me.

            I thought, ‘I have been driven out of your sight.

                              How can I again look upon your holy temple?’

            Water enveloped me to my throat;

            The deep surrounded me,

            Seaweed was wrapped around my head.

            To the roots of the mountains I descended;

            The underworld’s bars were shut behind me forever.

            But you brought my life up form the pit,

            Yahweh my God.

            As I was losing consciousness,

            I remembered Yahweh.

            My prayer came to you, to your holy temple.

            Those who cling to  idols

            Abandon the grace that could be theirs.

            But I, with a voice of thanksgiving

            Will sacrifice to you.

            That which I have vowed I will carry out.

            Salvation belongs to and comes from Yahweh.

Yahweh spoke to the fish so it vomited Jonah onto the dry land.

Chapter 3: The Fugitive Reports for “Duty.”

            Then the word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time, saying:

“Rise and go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I am now giving to you!”

Then Jonah rose up and went to Nineveh, according to Yahweh’s word. At that time Nineveh was a great city to God – a three days journey was required.  And Jonah set about to enter the city, walking  a day’s journey. Then he proclaimed:

“Forty more days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed.”

             But the people of Nineveh believed in God. They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, everyone from the most important to the least.  For the word had reached the king of Nineveh. He stepped down from his throne, threw off his regal garments, donned sackcloth and sat down in the dust.  Then he had these words proclaimed in Nineveh:

“This is an edict of the king and his nobles: Men and beast, cattle and sheep shall refrain from eating. They shall not graze, they shall not drink; rather they shall don sackcloth, men and beasts, and shall cry to God almighty.  And they shall turn about, each and everyone, away from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands.  Who knows whether the God will once more regret (his decision), and turn from his burning anger, so that we will not perish.”

And God saw their deeds, how they turned away from their evil ways. Then the God regretted the evil he had said he would do to them.  And he did not do it!

Jonah 4: Fugitive and Sovereign God Collide

            Then a great evil overcame Jonah [2] and he became angry.  He cried out to Yahweh and complained:

“Oh,  Yahweh!  Was not this exactly what I thought while I was still in my own country?  This is WHY I at first wanted to flee to Tarshish. For I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, patient and abounding in love, who regrets the evil.  So then, Yahweh, take my life from me!  I am better off dead than alive!”

But Yahweh said:

“Is it right for you to be angry?”

For Jonah had left the city and had sat down east of the city.  There he had built himself a shack and had sat down in its shade until he would see what might happen in the city. Then Yahweh-God appointed a goad to grow.  It grew up over Jonah to provide shade for his head, in order to pry him out of his wickedness.  Jonah rejoiced greatly over the goad. But God appointed a worm, just as dawn was breaking the next morning.  It attacked the goad and the bush withered away. And as the sun rose God appointed a burning east wind.  Then the sun beat down on Jonah’s head, and he became terribly faint.  So he begged that he might die, and he said:

“I am better off dead than alive.”

But God said to Jonah:

“Is it right for you to be angry because of the goad?”

Then Yahweh said:

“You feel sorry for the goad, which you have neither cared for nor nurtured, which grew up within one night and perished away within one night. Should I then not feel sorry for Nineveh, the great city, in which there live more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know how to distinguish between the right and the left . . . and much cattle?”

[1] The text of 1.17 says literally, “And the men feared a great fear of the Lord, they sacrificed sacrifices to the Lord, and they vowed vows (to the Lord).”

[2] We could also render 4.1 as, “This was absolutely disgusting to Jonah.”