Jonah

Head 1

1. Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2. "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great burg, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me." 3. But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the nearness of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he betold the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the nearness of the LORD.

4. But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.

5. Then the sailors were scared, and each shouted out to his god. And they hurled the freight that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 6. So the leader came and said to him, "What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Byhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not forfare."

7. And they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose ledger this evil has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

8. Then they said to him, "Tell us on whose ledger this evil has come upon us. What is your work? And where do you come from? What is your homeland? And of what folk are you?"

9. And he said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land."

10. Then the men were overly scared and said to him, "What is this that you have done!" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the nearness of the LORD, since he had told them.

11. Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you, that the sea may hush down for us?" For the sea grew more and more stormy.

12. He said to them, "Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will hush down for you, for I know it is owing to me that this great storm has come upon you."

13. Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them.

14. Therefore they called out to the LORD, "O LORD, let us not forfare for this man's life, and lay not on us guildless blood, for you, O LORD, have done as it gladdened you."

15. So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea stopped from its angering.

16. Then the men feared the LORD overly, and they bequeathed a bequeathing to the LORD and made oaths.

17. And the LORD set up a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.