4 But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. ⁵Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his god; and they threw the wares that were 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. ⁶So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call upon your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we do not perish.”

7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. ⁸Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And from where do you come? What is your country? And of what people are you?” ⁹And 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.” ¹⁰Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. ¹²He said to them, “Take me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” ¹³Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. ¹⁴Therefore they cried to the LORD, “We beg you, O LORD, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood; for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you.” ¹⁵So they took up Jonah and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.

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

“I called to the LORD, out of my distress,

and he answered me;

out of the belly of Sheol I cried,

and you heard my voice.

³For you cast me into the deep,

into the heart of the seas,

and the flood was round about me;

all your waves and your billows

passed over me.

⁴Then I said, ‘I am cast out

from your presence;

how shall I again look

upon your holy temple?’

⁵The waters closed in over me,

the deep was round about me;

weeds were wrapped about my head

⁶ at the roots of the mountains.

I went down to the land

whose bars closed upon me for ever;

yet you brought up my life from the Pit,

O LORD my God.

⁷When my soul fainted within me,

I remembered the LORD;

and my prayer came to you,

into your holy temple.

⁸Those who pay regard to vain idols

forsake their true loyalty.

⁹But I with the voice of thanksgiving

will sacrifice to you;

what I have vowed I will pay.

Deliverance belongs to the LORD!”

6 Then tidings reached the king of Nin'eveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷And he made proclamation and published through Nin'eveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, or drink water, ⁸but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence which is in his hands. ⁹Who knows, God may yet repent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we perish not?”

10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God repented of the evil which he had said he would do to them; and he did not do it.

6 And the LORD God appointed a plant,^b and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.^{b 7}But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm which attacked the plant,^b so that it withered. ⁸When the sun rose, God appointed a sultry east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah so that he was faint; and he asked that he might die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” ⁹But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?”^b And he said, “I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” ¹⁰And the LORD said, “You pity the plant,^b for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night, and perished in a night. ¹¹And should not I pity Nin'eveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”