(2:1) ¹ The Lord sent ²  a huge ³  fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

The Lord said ¹  to Jonah son of Amittai, ² 

Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish

The Lord said to Jonah ¹  a second time,

This displeased Jonah terribly ¹  and he became very angry. ² 

So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging.

Then the Lord commanded ¹  the fish and it disgorged Jonah on dry land.

The Lord God appointed ¹  a little plant ²  and caused it to grow up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to rescue ³  him from his misery. ⁴  Now Jonah was very delighted ⁵  about the little plant.

The sailors said to one another, ¹  “Come on, let’s cast lots ²  to find out ³  whose fault it is that this disaster has overtaken us. ⁴ ” So they cast lots, and Jonah was singled out. ⁵ 

So Jonah went immediately to Nineveh, as the Lord had said. (Now Nineveh was an enormous city ¹  – it required three days to walk through it!) ² 

When Jonah began to enter the city one day’s walk, he announced, “At the end of forty days, ¹  Nineveh will be overthrown!” ² 

God said to Jonah, “Are you really so very angry ¹  about the little plant?” And he said, “I am as angry ²  as I could possibly be!” ³ 

Instead, Jonah immediately ¹  headed off to Tarshish ²  to escape ³  from the commission of the Lord. ⁴  He traveled ⁵  to Joppa ⁶  and found a merchant ship heading ⁷  to Tarshish. ⁸  So he paid the fare ⁹  and went aboard it to go with them to Tarshish far away from the Lord.

The sailors were so afraid that each cried out ¹  to his own god ²  and they flung ³  the ship’s cargo ⁴  overboard ⁵  to make the ship lighter. ⁶  Jonah, meanwhile, ⁷  had gone down ⁸  into the hold ⁹  below deck, had lain down, and was sound asleep.

Jonah left the city and sat down east ¹  of it. ²  He made a shelter for himself there and sat down under it in the shade to see what would happen to the city. ³ 

When the sun began to shine, God sent ¹  a hot ²  east wind. So the sun beat down ³  on Jonah’s head, and he grew faint. So he despaired of life, ⁴  and said, “I would rather die than live!” ⁵