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

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!”

When God saw their actions – they turned ¹  from their evil way of living! ²  – God relented concerning the judgment ³  he had threatened them with ⁴  and he did not destroy them. ⁵ 

Who knows? ¹  Perhaps God might be willing to change his mind and relent ²  and turn from his fierce anger ³  so that we might not die.” ⁴ 

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.”

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 

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 

Every person and animal must put on sackcloth and must cry earnestly ¹  to God, and everyone ²  must turn from their ³  evil way of living ⁴  and from the violence that they do. ⁵ 

I went down ¹  to the very bottoms ²  of the mountains; ³  the gates ⁴  of the netherworld ⁵  barred me in ⁶  forever; ⁷  but you brought me ⁸  up from the Pit, ⁹  O Lord, my God.

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.

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 

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.

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 

Those who worship ¹  worthless idols ²  forfeit the mercy that could be theirs. 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 the news ¹  reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat on ashes.

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 they cried out to the Lord, “Oh, please, Lord, don’t let us die on account of this man! Don’t hold us guilty of shedding innocent blood. ¹  After all, you, Lord, have done just as you pleased.” ²