The Lord said to Jonah ¹  a second time,

But ¹  the Lord hurled ²  a powerful ³  wind on the sea. Such a violent ⁴  tempest arose on the sea that ⁵  the ship threatened to break up! ⁶ 

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.

So God sent ¹  a worm at dawn the next day, and it attacked the little plant so that it dried up.

He said to them, “I am a Hebrew! And I worship ¹  the Lord, ²  the God of heaven, ³  who made the sea and the dry land.”

(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 people ¹  of Nineveh believed in God, ²  and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. ³ 

But as for me, I promise to offer a sacrifice to you with a public declaration ¹  of praise; ²  I will surely do ³  what I have promised. ⁴  Salvation ⁵  belongs to the Lord!” ⁶ 

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 

He issued a proclamation and said, ¹  “In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, cattle or sheep, is to taste anything; they must not eat and they must not drink water.

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 

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 men feared the Lord ¹  greatly, ²  and earnestly vowed ³  to offer lavish sacrifices ⁴  to the Lord. ⁵ 

The Lord said, “You were upset ¹  about this little ²  plant, something for which you have not worked nor did you do anything to make it grow. It grew up overnight and died the next day. ³ 

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 

He prayed to the Lord and said, “Oh, Lord, this is just what I thought ¹  would happen ²  when I was in my own country. ³  This is what I tried to prevent ⁴  by attempting to escape to Tarshish! ⁵  – because I knew ⁶  that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger ⁷  and abounding ⁸  in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment. ⁹ 

The ship’s captain approached him and said, “What are you doing asleep? ¹  Get up! Cry out ²  to your god! Perhaps your god ³  might take notice of us ⁴  so that we might not die!”

Should I ¹  not be even more ²  concerned ³  about Nineveh, this enormous city? ⁴  There are more than one hundred twenty thousand people in it who do not know right from wrong, ⁵  as well as many animals!” ⁶ 

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