The Book of
JONAH
-- Literal Translation of the Holy Bible - Copyright © 1976 - 2000 --

Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

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Jonah 1
1 ¶ And the Word of Jehovah was to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying,
2 Rise up, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry out against it; for their evil has come up before Me.
3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the face of Jehovah. And he went down to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish. And he gave its fare and went down into it in order to go with them to Tarshish, from before the face of Jehovah.
4 ¶ But Jehovah hurled a great wind into the sea, and there was a great storm in the sea, and the ship was thought to be broken.
5 And the sailors were afraid, and each man cried to his god. And they threw out the ship's articles into the sea, to lighten it off of them. But Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship; and he lay down, and was sound asleep.
6 And the chief of the seamen came near to him and said to him, What is it to you, O fast sleeping one? Rise up and cry out to your God! Perhaps our god will notice us, and we will not perish.
7 And they said, each man to his companion, Come and let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil occurred to us. And they made lots fall, and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 And they said to him, Please tell us on account of whom has this evil occurred to us? What is your work? And from where do you come? What is your country, and of what people are you?
9 And he said to them, I am a Hebrew. And I fear Jehovah, the God of Heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.
10 And the men were terrified with fear and said to him, What is this you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from before the face of Jehovah, because he had told them.
11 ¶ And they said to him, What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm from on us? For the sea was going on and being stormy.
12 And he said to them, Take me up and throw me out into the sea. And the sea will be calm from on you. For I know that this great storm is on you on account of me.
13 But the men rowed to return to the dry land, but they were not able, for the sea was going on and being stormy against them.
14 And they cried out to Jehovah, and said, We beseech You, O Jehovah, we beseech You, do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not lay innocent blood on us. For You, O Jehovah, have done as You desired.
15 And they lifted Jonah up and threw him into the sea. And the sea ceased from its raging.
16 Then the men feared Jehovah with a great fear and offered a sacrifice to Jehovah, and vowed vows.
17 And Jehovah had appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

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Jonah 2
1 ¶ And Jonah prayed to Jehovah his God out of the belly of the fish.
2 And he said, I cried out to Jehovah from my distress. And He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried for help, and You heard my voice.
3 For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current surrounded me; all Your breakers and Your waves passed over me.
4 And I said, I am cast off from Your eyes; yet I will again look to Your holy temple.
5 Waters encompassed me, even to my soul; the depth closed around me; seaweed was clinging to my head.
6 I went down to the bases of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me forever. But You brought up my life from the pit, O Jehovah my God.
7 When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Jehovah; and my prayer came to You, to Your holy temple.
8 Those who observe vanities of idolatry forsake their faithfulness;
9 but I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will fulfill that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to Jehovah!
10 ¶ And Jehovah spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out onto the dry land.

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Jonah 3
1 ¶ And the Word of Jehovah was to Jonah the second time, saying,
2 Rise up, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry out to it the proclamation that I am declaring to you.
3 And Jonah rose up and went to Nineveh according to the Word of Jehovah. And Nineveh was a great city to God, of three days' journey.
4 And Jonah began to enter a day's journey into the city. And he cried out and said, Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overturned!
5 ¶ And the men of Nineveh believed in God, and they called a fast and put on sackclothes, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
6 And the word touched even to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he took his robe from him and covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes.
7 And he cried and said in Nineveh by the decree of the king and of his great ones, saying, Do not let man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them feed nor let them drink water.
8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. And let them call with strength to God. And let them each one turn from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their palms.
9 Who knows? He may turn, and God may have pity and turn away from the glow of His anger, that we do not perish.
10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. And God was compassionate over the evil that He had spoken to do to them, and He did not do it.

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Jonah 4
1 ¶ But it was a great calamity in Jonah's sight, and it kindled anger in him.
2 And he prayed to Jehovah, and said, Please, O Jehovah, was this not my word while I was on my own land? On account of this, I fled to Tarshish before, for I knew that You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and One who repents over calamity.
3 And now, O Jehovah, please take my life from me. For better is my death than my life.
4 And Jehovah said, Is anger rightly kindled in you?
5 ¶ And Jonah went out from the city and sat on the east of the city. And he made there a booth for himself and sat under it in the shade until he should see what would happen in the city.
6 And Jehovah God appointed a plant, and it came up over Jonah to be shade over his head, in order to deliver him from his misery. And Jonah rejoiced over the plant with great joy.
7 But God appointed a worm at the rising of the dawn of the next day, and it struck the plant, and it withered.
8 And it happened when the sun shone, God had appointed a scorching east wind; and the sun struck Jonah's head, so that he fainted; and he asked for his life to die. And he said, Better is my death than my life.
9 And God said to Jonah, Is your anger rightly kindled over the plant? And he said, My anger is rightly kindled, even to death.
10 And Jehovah said, You have had pity on the plant for which you had not labored, nor made it grow, which was the son of a night and perished the son of a night,
11 and should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city in which are more than a hundred and twenty thousand of mankind who do not know between the right and the left hand, and many cattle?

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Scripture taken from the Literal Translation of the Holy Bible
Copyright © 1976 - 2000
By Jay P. Green, Sr.
Used by permission of the copyright holder

[Policy for Reprint & Quoting from the Literal Translation]