JONAH.
1 And the word of Yahweh came unto Jonah son of Amittai saying:
2 Arise, get thee to Nineveh the great city and proclaim unto it,—That their wickedness hath come up before me.
3 But Jonah arose to flee unto Tarshish, away from the presence of Yahweh,—and went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare thereof and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of Yahweh.
4 But Yahweh hurled a great wind against the sea,—and there arose a mighty tempest in the sea,—and the ship thought to be broken in pieces.
5 Then were the mariners afraid and made outcry every man unto his own god, and they hurled the wares which were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them,—but Jonah had gone down into the hinder parts of the vessel, and had lain down and fallen into a sound sleep.
6 Then drew near unto him the shipmaster, and said to him, What meanest thou, O sound sleeper? Arise, cry unto thy God, Peradventure God will bethink himself of us that we perish not.
7 And they said—every one unto his fellow, Come and let us cast lots, that we may get to know for whose sake this calamity is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
8 Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose sake this calamity is upon us? What is thy business? and from whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?
9 And he said unto them, A Hebrew am I,—and Yahweh the God of the heavens do I revere, him who made the sea and the dry land.
10 Then did the men revere with great reverence, and said unto him, What is it thou hast done? For the men knew that away from the presence of Yahweh he was fleeing,—for he had told them.
11 Then said they unto him, What shall we do to thee, that the sea may cease raging over us? For the sea was raging more and more.
12 And he said unto them, Take me up and hurl me into the sea, that the sea may cease raging over you,—for I do know that for my sake is this great tempest upon you.
13 Nevertheless the men wrought hard to bring it back unto the land but could not,—for the sea was raging over them more and more.
14 Then cried they unto Yahweh and said, Ah now, Yahweh, pray let it not be that we perish for this man’s life, neither lay upon us innocent blood,—for thou O Yahweh as thou hast pleased hast ever done.
15 So they took up Jonah and hurled him into the sea,—and the sea left off her roaring.
16 Then did the men revere Yahweh with a great reverence,—and offered sacrifice to Yahweh, and vowed vows.
17 Now Yahweh had appointed a great fish, to swallow up Jonah,—and Jonah was in the belly of the fish, three days and three nights.
2 Then prayed Jonah, unto Yahweh his God,—out of the belly of the fish;
2 and said—I cried—out of my distress—unto Yahweh And he answered me,—Out of the belly of hades called I, Thou didst hear my voice.
3 For thou hast cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, And a flood enveloped me,—All thy breakers and thy rolling waves over me passed.
4 And I said, I am driven out from before thine eyes,—Yet will I again have regard unto thy holy temple:
5 The waters encompassed me to the peril of my life, The roaring deep enveloped me,—The sea-weed was wrapped about my head:
6 To the roots of the mountains went I down, As for the earth her bars were about me age-abidingly,—Then didst thou bring up—out of the pit—my life, O Yahweh my God.
7 When my soul darkened itself over me Yahweh I remembered,—And my prayer came in Unto thee, Unto thy holy temple.
8 They who take heed to the vanities of falsehood do their own lovingkindness forsake.
9 But I with the voice of praise will sacrifice unto thee, What I have vowed I will pay,—Salvation belongeth to Yahweh!
10 So then Yahweh spake unto the fish,—and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
3 Then came the word of Yahweh unto Jonah the second time saying:
2 Arise, get thee unto Nineveh the great city,—and cry against it the cry that I am bidding thee.
3 So Jonah arose and went his way unto Nineveh according to the word of Yahweh,—Nineveh being a city great before God, of three days’ journey.
4 So Jonah began to enter into the city, one day’s journey,—and he cried out and said—Yet forty days and Nineveh is to be overthrown!
5 And the people of Nineveh believed in God,—and proclaimed a fast and clothed themselves in sackcloth, from the greatest of them even unto the least of them.
6 And the word reached unto the king of Nineveh, so he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe from off him,—and covered him with sackcloth, and sat on ashes.
7 And he caused an outcry to be made—and said—throughout Nineveh, By decree of the king and of his great men Be it known:—Man and beast, herd and flock Let them taste nothing, Let them not feed And water let them not drink:
8 Let both man and beast cover themselves with sackcloth, And let them cry unto God mightily,—Yea let them turn every man from his wicked way, and from the violence which is in their hands:
9 Who knoweth whether God himself—may turn and grieve,—and turn away from the glow of his anger That we perish not?
10 And God saw their doings, that they turned from their wicked way,—and God was grieved over the calamity which he had spoken of executing upon them and executed it not.
4 And it was vexing unto Jonah with a great vexation,—and it angered him.
2 So he prayed unto Yahweh and said—Ah now! Yahweh! Was not this my word while I was yet upon mine own soil? For this cause did I hasten to flee unto Tarshish,—Because I knew that thou art a God of favour and compassion, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and art grieved over calamity.
3 Now therefore, O Yahweh, take, I pray thee, my life from me,—for it were better for me to die than to live.
4 Then said Yahweh, Art thou rightly angry?
5 But Jonah went forth out of the city, and abode on the east side of the city; and made for himself there a hut and sat under it in the shade, until he should see what would become of the city.
6 Now Yahweh God appointed a gourd and caused it to come up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his vexation,—and Jonah rejoiced over the gourd with great rejoicing.
7 But God appointed a worm, at the uprisings of the dawn the next day,—and it smote the gourd that it withered.
8 And it came to pass at the breaking forth of the sun that God appointed a sultry east wind, and the sun smote upon the head of Jonah that he became faint,—and asked his life that he might die, and said, It were better for me to die than to live.
9 Then said God unto Jonah, Art thou rightly angry over the gourd? And he said, I am rightly angry unto death.
10 Then said Yahweh, Thou wouldest have spared the gourd, for which thou hadst not toiled neither hadst thou made it grow,—which as the off-spring of a night came up and as the offspring of a night perished;
11 And was not I to spare Nineveh the great city,—wherein are more than twelve times ten thousand human beings who cannot discern between their right hand and their left, besides much cattle?