From the Prophets - Jonah

Paraphrased, Snipped a Little

Chapter One

The voice of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil is great.” 3 But Jonah disregarded what the Lord told him and running away from the oresence of the LIRD, he boarded a ship headed to Tarshish. 4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest, so that the ship threatened to break up. 5 And the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came and said, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise! Call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may 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 it fell upon Jonah. 8 So they said to him, “Tell us, who are you? What have you done, and where is your country and people?” 9 And he said, “I’m a Hebrew, and I fear/revere the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were very frightened and said, “What is this that you have done! And what shall we do, that the sea may quiet down?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea, then it will quiet down, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”

     13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they couldn’t, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous.14 Therefore they called out to the Lord, “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.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to him and made vows.

     17  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.

Chapter Two

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress.. out of the belly of Sheol I cried and you heard my voice. (Eccles.19:5,9) 3 …The flood surrounded me.. waves and your billows passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight, yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ 5 The waters closed over me to take my life, weeds were wrapped about my head. 6 Yet you brought up my life from the pit.. 7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, my God and my prayer came to you into your holy temple… Salvation belongs to the LORD! 8 Some regard vain idols.. 9 But with the voice of thanksgiving will I pay homage to you, what I have vowed I will pay.” (Our heart.)

    10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spit Jonah out upon the dry land.

Chapter Three

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a three days' journey in width. 4 Jonah was in about a day's journey worth, when he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 The message reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, removed his robe, clothed himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published it through Nineveh saying, “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, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? This god may turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

     10 And when God saw what they did, and how they turned from their evil way, he relented of the disaster that he had said he would send, and he did not send it.

Chapter Four

But that made Jonah angry. 2 And he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? (I just knew it!) That is why I ran away, for I know you are a gracious God and merciful! That you are slow to anger and abound in steadfast love! And you regret disaster. (Imo, cause and effect, consequences.) 3 Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry Jonah?”

     5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the LORD God had appointed a large plant and made it come up so it would be over Jonah, and be a shade over his head. So Jonah was very glad for the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, and it withered. 8 And when the sun rose high there was scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on 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.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die!” 10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And shouldn’t I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

    Here ends the Book of Jonah, one of the earliest writings, written about 785-760 B.C. before Assyria conquered Israel’s Northern Kingdom.