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.

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 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.

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?"

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."

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 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."

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

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 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.

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!

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

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 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 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}!"

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}!