Jonah

Introduction

The book relates how the word of the Lord came to Jonah, a prophet during the reign of Jeroboam II in the 8th century BC. It is unique among prophetic books in focusing on a story about a prophet rather than a collection of oracles. The book contains only a single sentence of prophecy.

The story concerns God’s call to Jonah to warn the people of Nineveh of its coming destruction. The book is structured into two main acts with two scenes each. The repetition of God’s command to Go to the great city of Nineveh marks the beginning of each act. The first scene is set on a ship as Jonah tries to avoid his mission. The second scene takes place in the belly of a huge fish which has swallowed Jonah. In the second act both scenes are associated with Nineveh itself, the first within the city as Jonah preaches and Nineveh repents, the second just outside the city as Jonah struggles with God’s mercy.

Jonah’s role in the book is to represent the attitude of many in Israel towards other nations. Instead of accepting their own calling to help these nations come to know the true God, they considered them enemies and expected God to destroy them. The book teaches that God’s love extends beyond Israel to other nations, indeed, to the whole creation. God’s final question to Jonah is intended for all the book’s readers.

Chapter 1

Jonah flees from the Lord

¹The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: ²‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.’

³But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

⁴Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. ⁵All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.

But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. ⁶The captain went to him and said, ‘How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.’

⁷Then the sailors said to each other, ‘Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.’ They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸So they asked him, ‘Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?’

⁹He answered, ‘I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.’

¹⁰This terrified them and they asked, ‘What have you done?’ (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)

¹¹The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, ‘What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?’

¹²‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea,’ he replied, ‘and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.’

¹³Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. ¹⁴Then they cried out to the Lord, ‘Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.’ ¹⁵Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. ¹⁶At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.

Jonah’s prayer

¹⁷Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Chapter 2

¹From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. ²He said:

‘In my distress I called to the Lord,

and he answered me.

From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,

and you listened to my cry.

³You hurled me into the depths,

into the very heart of the seas,

and the currents swirled about me;

all your waves and breakers

swept over me.

⁴I said, “I have been banished

from your sight;

yet I will look again

towards your holy temple.”

⁵The engulfing waters threatened me,

the deep surrounded me;

seaweed was wrapped around my head.

⁶To the roots of the mountains I sank down;

the earth beneath barred me in for ever.

But you, Lord my God,

brought my life up from the pit.

⁷‘When my life was ebbing away,

I remembered you, Lord,

and my prayer rose to you,

to your holy temple.

⁸‘Those who cling to worthless idols

turn away from God’s love for them.

⁹But I, with shouts of grateful praise,

will sacrifice to you.

What I have vowed I will make good.

I will say, “Salvation comes from the Lord.” ’

¹⁰And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Chapter 3

Jonah goes to Nineveh

¹Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: ²‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.’

³Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. ⁴Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.’ ⁵The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

⁶When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. ⁷This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:

‘By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. ⁸But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. ⁹Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.’

¹⁰When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

Chapter 4

Jonah’s anger at the Lord’s compassion

¹But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. ²He prayed to the Lord, ‘Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. ³Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.’

⁴But the Lord replied, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’

⁵Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. ⁶Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. ⁷But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. ⁸When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, ‘It would be better for me to die than to live.’

⁹But God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?’

‘It is,’ he said. ‘And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.’

¹⁰But the Lord said, ‘You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. ¹¹And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left – and also many animals?’