Yonah

Chapter 1

1Now YHWH’s word came to Yonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2“Arise, go to Ninveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.” 3But Yonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of YHWH. He went down to Yafo, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of YHWH. 4But YHWH sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up. 5Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the ship. But Yonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship and he was laying down, and was fast asleep. 6So the ship master came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your Elohim! Maybe your Elohim will notice us, so that we won’t perish.” 7They all said to each other, “Come! Let’s cast lots, that we may know who is responsible for this evil that is on us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Yonah. 8Then they asked him, “Tell us, please, for whose cause this evil is on us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? Of what people are you?” 9He said to them, “I am a Ivri, and I fear YHWH, the Elohim of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.” 10Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “What have you done?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of YHWH, because he had told them. 11Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us?” For the sea grew more and more stormy. 12He said to them, “Take me up, and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you; for I know that because of me this great storm is on you.” 13Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get them back to the land; but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. 14Therefore they cried to YHWH, and said, “We beg you, YHWH, we beg you, don’t let us die for this man’s life, and don’t lay on us innocent blood; for you, YHWH, have done as it pleased you.” 15So they took up Yonah and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased its raging. 16Then the men feared YHWH exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to YHWH and made vows. 17YHWH prepared a huge fish to swallow up Yonah, and Yonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Chapter 2

1Then Yonah prayed to YHWH, his Elohim, out of the fish’s belly. 2He said, “I called because of my affliction to YHWH. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice. 3For you threw me into the depths, in the heart of the seas. The flood was all around me. All your waves and your billows passed over me. 4I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again towards your kodesh Beit HaMikdash.’ 5The waters surrounded me, even to the soul. The deep was around me. The weeds were wrapped around my head. 6I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth barred me in forever; yet you have brought my life up from the pit, YHWH my Elohim. 7“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered YHWH. My prayer came in to you, into your kodesh Beit HaMikdash. 8Those who regard vain idols forsake their own chesed. 9But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to YHWH.” 10Then YHWH spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Yonah on the dry land.

Chapter 3

1YHWH’s word came to Yonah the second time, saying, 2“Arise, go to Ninveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I give you.” 3So Yonah arose, and went to Ninveh, according to YHWH’s word. Now Ninveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey across. 4Yonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried out, and said, “In forty days, Ninveh will be overthrown!” 5The people of Ninveh believed Elohim; and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least. 6The news reached the king of Ninveh, and he arose from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7He made a proclamation and published through Ninveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water; 8but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and animal, and let them cry mightily to Elohim. Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9Who knows whether Elohim will not turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish?” 10Elohim saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. Elohim relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.

Chapter 4

1But it displeased Yonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2He prayed to YHWH, and said, “Please, YHWH, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious Elohim and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in chesed, and you relent of doing harm. 3Therefore now, YHWH, take, I beg you, my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4YHWH said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” 5Then Yonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city, and there made himself a booth and sat under it in the shade, until he might see what would become of the city. 6YHWH Elohim prepared a vine and made it to come up over Yonah, that it might be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. So Yonah was exceedingly glad because of the vine. 7But Elohim prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine so that it withered. 8When the sun arose, Elohim prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Yonah’s head, so that he was faint and requested for himself that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9Elohim said to Yonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?” He said, “I am right to be angry, even to death.” 10YHWH said, “You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not laboured, neither made it grow; which came up in a night and perished in a night. 11Shouldn’t I be concerned for Ninveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also many animals?”