Jonah’s Flight

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

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 said to him, “Tell us who is to blame for this trouble we’re in. What is your business, and where are you from? What is your country, and what people are you from?”

Then the men were seized by a great fear and said to him, “What have you done?” The men knew he was fleeing from the Lord’s presence because he had told them.

So they said to him, “What should we do to you so that the sea will calm down for us?” For the sea was getting worse and worse.

He answered them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea so that it will calm down for you, for I know that I’m to blame for this great storm that is against you.”

So they called out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, don’t let us perish because of this man’s life, and don’t charge us with innocent blood! For you, Lord, have done just as you pleased.”

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

The men were seized by great fear of the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah’s Prayer

Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish:

I called to the Lord in my distress, and he answered me. I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol; you heard my voice.

And I said, “I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look once more toward your holy temple.”

I sank to the foundations of the mountains, the earth’s gates shut behind me forever! Then you raised my life from the Pit, Lord my God!

As my life was fading away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple.

Those who cherish worthless idols abandon their faithful love,

but as for me, I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation belongs to the Lord.

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

Jonah’s Preaching

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

Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the Lord’s command. Now Nineveh was an extremely great city, a three-day walk.

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

Then the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth—from the greatest of them to the least.

When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.