He rebuilt Israel's coastline from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the message from the LORD God of Israel that he spoke through his servant Jonah the prophet, Amittai's son, who was from Gath-hepher.

Now this message from the LORD came to Amittai's son Jonah:

But Jonah got up and fled from the LORD to Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, secured passage on a ship bound for Tarshish, paid the fare, and boarded, intending to go with the mariners to Tarshish to escape from the LORD.

At this point the mariners became terrified, and each man cried out to his gods. They began to throw the cargo into the sea in order to lighten the vessel. But Jonah had gone down into the vessel's hold, had lain down, and was fast asleep.

Meanwhile, each crewman told another, "Come on! Let's cast lots to find out whose fault it is that we're in this trouble." So they cast lots, and the lot indicated Jonah!

Jonah told them, "Pick me up and toss me into the sea. Then the sea will calm down for you, because I know that it's my fault that this mighty storm has come upon you."

So they picked up Jonah and tossed him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging.

Now the LORD had prepared a large sea creature to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the sea creature for three days and three nights.

Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from inside the sea creature.

Then the LORD spoke to the sea creature, and it spewed Jonah onto the dry land.

This message from the LORD came to Jonah a second time:

So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh to do what the LORD had ordered.

Now Nineveh was a very large city, requiring a three-day journey to cross through it. As Jonah started into the city on the first day's journey, he proclaimed the message, "40 days more and Nineveh will be overthrown!"

Greatly displeased, Jonah flew into a rage.

Then Jonah left the city and sat down on the eastern side. There he made a shelter for himself and sat down under its shade to see what would happen to the city.

The LORD God prepared a vine plant, and it grew over Jonah to shade his head and provide relief from his misery. Jonah was happy indeed, he was ecstatic about the vine plant.

When the sun rose, God prepared a harsh east wind. The sun beat down on Jonah's head, he became faint, and he begged to die. "It is better for me to die than to live!" he said.

Then God asked Jonah, "Is your anger about the vine plant justified?" And he answered, "Absolutely! I'm so angry I could die!"