And the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

And Yahweh hurled a great wind upon the sea, and it was a great storm on the sea, and the merchant ship {was in danger of breaking up}.

And they said {to one another}, "Come, let us cast lots so that we may know on whose account this disaster [has come] on us!" And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

Then the men {were greatly afraid}, and they said to him, "What [is] this you have done?" because they knew that he [was] fleeing {from the presence of} Yahweh (because he had told them).

So they said to him, "What shall we do to you so that the sea may quiet down for us?" because the sea {was growing more and more tempestuous}.

And the captain of the ship approached him and said to him, "Why are you {sound asleep}? Get up! Call on your god! Perhaps [your] god will take notice of us and we won't perish!"

And the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they threw the {contents} that were in the merchant ship into the sea to lighten it for them. And [meanwhile] Jonah went down into the hold of the vessel and lay down and fell asleep.

And he said to them, "I [am] a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land."

And Yahweh provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

And he said to them, "Pick me up and hurl me into the sea so that the sea may quiet down for you, because I know that on account of me this great storm [has come] upon you all."

So they cried out to Yahweh, and they said, "O Yahweh! Please do not let us perish because of this man's life, and {do not make us guilty of innocent blood}, because you, O Yahweh, did what you wanted."

So they said to him, "Please tell us whoever [is responsible that] this disaster [has come] upon us! What [is] your occupation? And from where do you come? What [is] your country? And from which people [are] you?"

But the men rowed [hard] to bring [the ship] back to the dry land, and they could not [do so] because the sea {was growing more and more tempestuous} against them.

And you threw me [into the] deep, into the heart of [the] seas, and [the] sea currents surrounded me; all your breakers and your surging waves passed over me.

And the news reached the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne and removed his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.

So the men feared Yahweh {greatly}, and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and {made} vows.

And they picked Jonah up and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.

And Jonah went out from the city and sat [down] east of the city, and he made for himself a shelter there. And he sat under it in the shade, {waiting to see} what would happen with the city.

And I said, 'I am banished from your sight; how {will I continue to look} {on your holy temple}?'

And Yahweh God appointed a plant, and he made it grow up over Jonah to be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. And Jonah {was very glad} about the plant.

And he had a proclamation made, and said, "In Nineveh, by a decree of the king and his nobles: "No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything! They must not eat, and they must not drink water!

[The] waters encompassed me up to [my] neck; [the] deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.

I went down to the foundations of [the] mountains; the Underworld--its bars [were] around me forever. But you brought up my life from [the] pit, Yahweh my God.

And [the] human beings and [the] animals must be covered [with] sackcloth! And they must call forcefully to God, and each must turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.

Those who worship vain idols forsake their loyal love.

Who knows? God may relent and change his mind and turn {from his blazing anger} {so that} we will not perish."

And Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out on the dry land.

{And when the sun rose}, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah's head and he grew faint. {And he asked that he could die} and said, "My death [is] better than my life!"

So God appointed a worm {at daybreak} the next day, and it attacked the plant, and it withered.

So God said to Jonah, "{Is it right for you to be angry} about the plant?" And he said, "{It is right for me to be angry enough to die}!"

When my life was ebbing away from me, I remembered Yahweh, and my prayer came to you, {to your holy temple}.

But Yahweh said, "You are troubled about the plant, for which you did not labor nor cause it to grow. {It grew up in a night and it perished in a night}!

So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was {an extraordinarily great city}--a journey of three days [across].

"Get up! Go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the message that I [am] telling you."

And so then, Yahweh, please take my life from me, because [for] me death [is] better than life!"

And he prayed to Yahweh and said, "O Yahweh, [was] this not {what I said} while I was in my homeland? Therefore {I originally fled} to Tarshish, because I knew that you [are] a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger {and having great steadfast love}, and one who relents concerning calamity.

And God saw their deeds--that they turned from their evil ways--and God changed his mind about the evil that he had said [he would] bring upon them, and he did not do [it].

And Yahweh said, "{Is it right for you to be angry}?"

And the word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second [time], saying,

And Jonah began to go into the city a journey of one day, and he cried out and said, "Forty more days and Nineveh will be demolished!"

and said, "I called {from my distress} to Yahweh, and he answered me; from the belly of Sheol I cried for help-- you heard my voice.

And Jonah prayed to Yahweh his God from the belly of the fish

But Jonah set out to flee toward Tarshish from {the presence of} Yahweh. And he went down [to] Joppa and found a merchant ship going [to] Tarshish, and paid her fare, and went on board her to go with them toward Tarshish from {the presence of} Yahweh.

"Get up! Go to the great city Nineveh and cry out against her, because their evil has come up {before me}."

And the people of Nineveh believed in God, and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth--from the greatest of them {to the least important}.

But I, with a voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you; I will fulfill what I have vowed. Deliverance [belongs] to Yahweh!"

And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, the great city, {in which there are} more {than one hundred and twenty thousand} people who do not know right from left, plus many animals?"

And this {was greatly displeasing} to Jonah, and {he became furious}.