The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai:

However, Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, from the Lord’s presence.

The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his god. They threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel and had stretched out and fallen into a deep sleep.

“Come on!” the sailors said to each other. “Let’s cast lots. Then we’ll know who is to blame for this trouble we’re in.” So they cast lots, and the lot singled out Jonah.

Then they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.

Now the Lord had appointed a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish:

Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time:

So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the Lord’s command.

Now Nineveh was an extremely large city, a three-day walk.

Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, “In 40 days Nineveh will be demolished!”

But Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious.

Jonah left the city and sat down east of it. He made himself a shelter there and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city.

Then the Lord God appointed a plant, and it grew up to provide shade over Jonah’s head to ease his discomfort. Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant.

As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind. The sun beat down so much on Jonah’s head that he almost fainted, and he wanted to die. He said, “It’s better for me to die than to live.”

Then God asked Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“Yes,” he replied. “It is right. I’m angry enough to die!”