Jonas

JONAS.

  1. When a word of the Lord came to Jonas the son of

2 Amathi, saying, ” Arise and go to Ninive that great city and proclaim in it, That the cry of its wickedness is come up

3 to me.” Jonas arose to flee to Tharsis from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa, and finding a ship bound to Tharsis, he paid his fare and went on board with a desigr to sail with them to Tharsis, from the presence of the Lord

4 But the Lord raised a wind on the sea, and there was a great

tempest in the sea, so that the ship was in danger of founder. ing. And the mariners were terrified, and cried every one to his god, and threw overboard some of the cargo, to lighten the vessel. Now Jonas had gone down into the ship’s hold, and was asleep and snoring. And the master of the ship came to him and said to him, What! art thou snoring ? Arise and call on thy God, that thy God may save us, and that we may not perish. Then they said, one to another, Come let us cast lots and know on whose account this calamity is come on us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonas. Whereupon they said to him, Tell us. What is thy business ? And whence comest thou ? And of what country, and of what people art thou ? And he said to them, I am a servant of the Lord; and I worship the Lord God of heaven, who made

1 the sea and the dry land. Upon this the men were greatly terrified and said to him, Why hast thou done this ? (For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord,

for he had told them.) Then they said to him, What shall we do to thee that the sea may be calmed for us ? For the sea

2 rolled and grew more and more tempestuous. And Jonas said to them, Take me up and throw me into the sea, and the sea will be calm for you ; for I know that on my account this

3 great tempest is come upon you. When the men had laboured hard to reach land, but could not because the sea ran high, and grew more tempestuous against them, then they

4 cried to the Lord and said, Forbid it, O Lord, that we perish^ for the life of this man, and bring not upon us innocent blood; for thou, O Lord, hast done according to thy pleasure.

5 Then they took Jonas and cast him into the sea. Whereupon

6 from raging the sea became still. And the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

7 Now the Lord had commanded a great fish to swallow Jonas, so Jonas was three days and three nights, in the belly

  1. of the fish. And when out of the belly of the great fish,

2 Jonas prayed to the Lord his God, and said, In my affliction I cried to the Lord my God, and he hearkened to me : thou didst hear my cry from the womb of Hades: thou didst

3 hearken to my prayer : thou hast cast me into the depths oi’ the heart of the sea. When streams encompassed me—aU

4 thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out from thy sight; nevertheless I will continue to look

5 towards thy holy temple. The water was poured around me to my soul; and the lowest abyss encompassed me; my head

6 hath gone down into the clefts of mountains; I have gone down to a land, the bars of which are everlastingly fixed : let my

7 soul now, corrupted as it is, ascend, O Lord, my God. When my soul was fainting I remembered the Lord ; let my prayer

8 now come to thee into thy holy temple. They who worship

9 vanities and lies have forsaken their mercy : But I will sacrifice to thee with the voice of praise and thanksgiving. I will pay thee what I have vowed to the Lord for my deliverance.

10 Upon this a command was given by the Lord to the fish, and it cast forth Jonas upon the dry ground.

III. Then a word of the Lord came to Jonas a second time saying, “Arise and go to Ninive that great city, and proclaim in it according to the former proclamation which I spoke to

3 thee.” So Jonas arose and went to Ninive as the Lord had spoken. Now Ninive was an exceeding great city, df about

4 three days’ journey. And Jonas began at his entering the chy, and for about one day’s journey cried with a loud voice and

5 said, “Yet three days and Ninive shall be destroyed.” And the men of Ninive believed God and proclaimed a fast, and put

6 on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. When the word reached the king of Ninive, he arose from his throne and stripped off his robes and clothed himself with sackcloth and

7 sat in ashes. And proclamation was made and orders issued. in Ninive from the king and from his nobles, saying, With regard to men and beasts, including herds and flocks, Let them not taste any thing; let them neither feed nor drink

8 water. So both men and beasts were covered with sackcloth; and there was an incessant cry to God; and every one turned from his evil way, and from the wickedness of their hands,

9 saying, Who knowedi but God will relent and turn away 10 from his fierce wrath, so that we may not perish. And God

saw their works, that they turned from their evil ways. And God relented at the evil which he said he would do to them, and did it not.

  1. . Thereupon Jonas was exceedingly grieved and confounded, and he prayed to the Lord and said, O Lord were not these

2 my words, when I was yet in my own country? For which cause J attempted to flee to Tharsis. For I knew that thou art compassionate and merciful, long suffering and abundant in kind-

3 ness and relentest at evils. Now, therefore, O Sovereign Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.

4 And the Lord said to Jonas, Art thou very sorry—(Now Jonas

5 had gone out of the city and sat over against it, and had made for himself a booth and sat under it until he should see what

6 would befal the city. And the Lord had given orders to a co- locynthis, and it had sprung up over the head of Jonas to be a shade over his head to shade him on account of his sufferings;

7 and Jonas was exceeding glad of the colocynthis. But early the next morning God gave orders to a worm and it smote the

8 colocynthis and it withered. And when the sun rose God ordered a burning wind to spring up and the sun beat upon Jonas’ head so that he became fainty and abandoned himself to

9 despair and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And

10 God said to Jonas’, Art thou very sorry) for the colocynthis. And he said I am sorry even to death. Thereupon the Lord said, Thou hast compassion for the colocynthis, for which thou hast not toiled and which thou hast not nourished, which sprang

11 up in a night and perished in a night. And shall not I have compassion on Ninive this great city, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand of the human species, who know not their right hand and <heir left; and also much cattle.