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

The Lord said, “Are you really so very ¹  angry?” ² 

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

So now, Lord, kill me instead, ¹  because I would rather die than live!” ² 

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 

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 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 

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!”

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 

Instead, they tried to row ¹  back to land, ²  but they were not able to do so ³  because the storm kept growing worse and worse. ⁴ 

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.

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 

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.

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.

Because the storm was growing worse and worse, ¹  they said to him, “What should we do to you to make ²  the sea calm down ³  for us?”

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 

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 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