Now the word of Jehovah came to Jonah the son of Amittai. He said:

Jehovah sent out a great windstorm upon the sea and the ship was about to break up.

The sailors said to each other, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know whom to blame for this evil. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

Then the men were very afraid, and they asked: What is this you have done? For the men knew that he was running away from the presence of Jehovah, because he told them.

Then they said: What shall we do to you to make the sea calm for us? But the sea grew more and more stormy.

So the captain came to him, and said: Why are you sleeping? Get up and call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.

The sailors were so afraid that each man cried out to his own god. They threw the cargo that was on the ship into the sea to lighten the load. At that time Jonah was fast asleep down in the innermost parts of the ship.

He replied: I am Hebrew and I respect Jehovah, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.

However, Jehovah prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

He replied: Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you. I know that it is my fault the great storm came upon you.

So they cried to Jehovah, and said: We earnestly request that you, O Jehovah, do not let us perish because of this man. Do not allow the loss of innocent blood! For you, O Jehovah, have done as you pleased.

Then they said to him, Please tell us who is the cause of this evil? What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? What people are they?

The men rowed hard to get back to the land; but they could not! The sea grew more and more stormy against them.

For you threw me into the deep, in the heart of the seas. The current was all around me. All your waves, your huge breakers passed over me!

The news reached the king of Nineveh. He left his throne, and took off his robe and covered himself with sackcloth. Then he sat in ashes.

The men greatly reverenced Jehovah. They offered a sacrifice to Jehovah, and made vows.

So they picked up Jonah, and threw him into the sea. Immediately the sea ceased from its raging.

Then Jonah went out of the city. He sat on the east side of the city. He made a booth, and sat under it in the shade. He wanted to see what would become of the city.

And I said: I have been cast out of your sight. Yet I will look again toward your Holy Temple.

And Jehovah God prepared a gourd plant. He made it grow up over Jonah. That way it would be a shade over his head. It would deliver him from his disastrous (fateful) attitude. So Jonah was very glad to have the gourd plant.

He made proclamation and published it in Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not eat, nor drink water.

The waters encompassed me and threatened my life. The deep sea surrounded me. The sea weeds were wrapped about my head.

I went down to the bottom of the mountains! The earth with its bars closed upon me for a very long time. Yet you have brought my life up from the pit, O Jehovah my God?

Let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast. Let them sincerely call on God! Let them turn away each one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands.

They that regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

Who knows whether God will turn back and change his mind, and turn away from his fierce anger that we will not perish?

Jehovah spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

When the sun rose God prepared a sultry (burning hot) east wind. So the sun beat upon the head of Jonah and he grew faint. He requested for himself that he might die. He said: It is better for me to die than to live!

The next morning God prepared a worm and it attacked the plant and it withered.

However God replied to Jonah: Do you have good reason to be angry at the plant? He said to God: I have good reason to be angry even unto death.

My life was leaving me and I remembered Jehovah! My prayer came to you, into your Holy Temple.

Jehovah said: You have compassion for the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow. It came up overnight and perished in a night.

So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Jehovah. Nineveh was a very important and large city, a three days' walk [from one side to the other].

Arise and go to the great city, Nineveh. Proclaim to it the proclamation I give you.

Now, O Jehovah, please take my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live.

He prayed to Jehovah: I pray to you, O Jehovah, was this what I said, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish. Because I knew that you are a gracious God. You are merciful, slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness, and one who takes pity over calamity (tragedy) (catastrophe) (disaster).

God saw their works! That they turned from their evil way. God turned back from the deed that he said he would do to them. He did not do it.

Jehovah asked him: Do you have good reason to be angry?

The word of Jehovah came to Jonah a second time:

Jonah began to enter into the city, a day's journey walking, and he shouted: Nineveh will be overthrown in Forty days.

He said: I called to Jehovah because of my affliction. And he answered me! Out of the belly of the grave I cried and you heard my voice.

Then Jonah prayed to Jehovah his God from inside the fish's belly.

Jonah tried to run away from the presence of Jehovah (YHWH). He went to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and boarded it to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of Jehovah.

Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim against her that Jehovah has seen their terrible wickedness.

The people of Nineveh believed God and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving! I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation is from Jehovah!

Should I not then have regard for Nineveh, that great city, where there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand people that do not know the difference between their right and their left hand, and also many animals?

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly. He was angry!