Jonah

1 Now the word of YHVH came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying: 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before Me! 3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of YHVH, and went down to Joppa. There he found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of YHVH. 4 But YHVH sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was likely to be broken. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried, every man to his gods, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. 6 So the shipmaster came to him and said to him: What means you, O sleeper? Arise, call upon your god, if so be that your god will think upon us, that we perish not. 7 And they said, every one to his fellow: Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. 8 Then said they to him: Tell us, we pray you, for whose cause this evil is upon us? What is your occupation? And whence come you? What is your country, and of what people are you? 9 And he said to them: I am a Hebrew, and I fear YHVH, the Elohim of Heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land! 10 Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said to him: Why have you done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of YHVH, because he had told them. 11 Then they said to him: What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm to us? For the sea wrought and was tempestuous. 12 And he said to them: Take me up and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm to you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to bring it to the land, but they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore, they cried to YHVH, and said: We beseech you, O YHVH, we beseech you, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood. For you, O YHVH, have done as it pleased You. 15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared YHVH exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto YHVH, and made vows. 17 Now, YHVH had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

1 Then Jonah prayed to YHVH his Elohim, out of the fish's belly, 2 and said: I cried by reason of my affliction to YHVH, and He heard me; out of the belly of hell I cried, and You heard my voice. 3 For You had cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about. All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. 4 Then I said: I am cast out of Your sight; yet, I will look again toward Your holy temple. 5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul. The depth closed me round about; the weeds were wrapped about my head. 6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me forever. Yet, have You brought up my life from corruption, O YHVH my Elohim! 7 When my soul fainted within me, I remembered YHVH, and my prayer came in to You; into Your holy temple. 8 They who observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of YHVH! 10 So YHVH spoke to the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

1 And the word of YHVH came to Jonah the second time, saying: 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the preaching that I bid you. 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of YHVH. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey. 4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a days journey, and he proclaimed: Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown! 5 So the people of Nineveh believed Elohim, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 6 For word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed nor drink water. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto Elohim! Yes, let them turn, everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. 9 Who can tell if Elohim will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not? 10 But Elohim saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and Elohim repented of the evil that He had said that He would do to them; and He did it not.

1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. 2 And he prayed to YHVH, and said: I pray you, O YHVH, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious El, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repent yourself of the evil. 3 Therefore now, O YHVH, I beseech you; take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. 4 Then said YHVH: Do you well to be angry? 5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made a shelter, and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. 6 And Adonai Elohim prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. 7 But Elohim prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it ate the gourd and it withered. 8 And it came to pass, when the sun rose that Elohim prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said: It is better for me to die than to live! 9 And Elohim said to Jonah: Do you well to be angry for the gourd? And he said: I do well to be angry, even to death! 10 Then said YHVH: You have had pity on the gourd, for which you have not laboured, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night. 11 And yet, should I not spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons, who cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also many cattle? (Back)