Chapter 1​

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1And the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying:

2Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim against it, for their evil has come before Me.

3And Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from before the Lord, and he went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, paid its hire, and went down into it to come with them to Tarshish from before the Lord.

4Now the Lord cast a mighty wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, and the ship threatened to be broken up.

5And the sailors were frightened, and each one cried out to his god, and they cast the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them, and Jonah went down to the ship's hold, lay down, and fell fast asleep.

6And the captain approached him and said to him, "Why do you sleep? Get up, call out to your God, perhaps God will think about us, and we will not perish."

7And they said, each one to his fellow, "Come, let's cast lots, so that we will know because of whom this evil has befallen us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

8And they said to him, "Tell us now, because of whom has this evil befallen us? What is your work and whence do you come? What is your land, and from what people are you?"

9And he said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven, Who made the sea and the dry land."

10And the men were very frightened, and they said to him, "What is this that you have done?" For the men knew that he was fleeing from before the Lord, because he had told them.

11And they said to him, "What shall we do with you, so that the sea subside from upon us, since the sea is becoming stormier?"

12And he said to them, "Pick me up and cast me into the sea, so that the sea may subside from upon you, for I know that, because of me, this mighty tempest is upon you."

13And the men rowed vigorously to return to dry land, but they could not, for the sea was becoming stormier upon them.

14And they called to the Lord and said, "Please, O Lord, let us not perish for the life of this man, and do not place upon us innocent blood, for You, O Lord, as You wish, You have done."

15And they picked Jonah up and cast him into the sea, and the sea ceased storming.

16And the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they made sacrifices to the Lord and made vows.

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Chapter 2

1And the Lord appointed a huge fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

2And Jonah prayed to the Lord his God, from the belly of the fish.

3And he said: I called out from my distress to the Lord, and He answered me; from the belly of the grave I cried out, You heard my voice.

4And You cast me into the deep in the heart of the seas, and a river surrounded me; all Your breakers and Your waves passed over me.

5And I said, "I have been driven away from before Your eyes," Indeed, I will continue to gaze upon Your Holy Temple.

6Water has surrounded me even to the soul, the deep encompassed me; the Red Sea hangs over my head.

7To the bottom of the mountains I descended, the earth-its bars are closed on me forever; but You brought up my life from Gehinnom, O Lord, my God.

8When my soul grew faint upon me, I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came to You to Your Holy Temple.

9Those who keep worthless futilities abandon their kindness.

10But I-with a voice of thanks will I sacrifice to You; what I vowed I will pay, for the salvation of the Lord.

11And the Lord said to the fish, and it spewed Jonah onto the dry land.

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Chapter 3

1And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying:

2Arise, go to Nineveh the great city, and proclaim upon it the proclamation that I speak to you.

3And Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a walk of three days.

4And Jonah commenced to come into the city, one day's walk, and he proclaimed and said, "In another forty days Nineveh shall be overturned!"

5And the people of Nineveh believed in God, and they proclaimed a fast and donned sackcloth, from their greatest to their smallest.

6And the word reached the king of Nineveh, whereupon he rose from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ashes.

7And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh: By the counsel of the king and his nobles, saying: Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep shall taste anything; they shall not graze, neither shall they drink water.

8And they shall cover themselves with sackcloth, both man and beast, and they shall call mightily to God, and everyone shall repent of his evil way and of the dishonest gain which is in their hands.

9Whoever knows shall repent, and God will relent, and He will return from His burning wrath, and we will not perish.

10And God saw their deeds, that they had repented of their evil way, and the Lord relented concerning the evil that He had spoken to do to them, and He did not do it.

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Chapter 4

1Now it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was grieved.

2And he prayed to the Lord and said, "Please, O Lord, was this not my contention while I was still on my land? For this reason I had hastened to flee to Tarshish, for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, with much kindness, and relenting of evil.

3And now, O Lord, take now my soul from me, for my death is better than my life."

4And the Lord said: Are you deeply grieved?

5And Jonah had gone out of the city, and had stationed himself on the east of the city, and there he made himself a hut and sat under it in the shade until he would see what would happen in the city.

6Now the Lord God appointed a kikayon, and it grew up over Jonah to be shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort, and Jonah was overjoyed with the kikayon.

7Now God appointed a worm at the rise of dawn on the morrow, and the worm attacked the kikayon, and it withered.

8Now it came to pass when the sun shone, that God appointed a stilling east wind, and the sun beat on Jonah's head, and he fainted, and he begged to die, and he said, "My death is better than my life."

9And God said to Jonah; Are you very grieved about the kikayon? And he said, "I am very grieved even to death."

10And the Lord said: You took pity on the kikayon, for which you did not toil nor did you make it grow, which one night came into being and the next night perished.

11Now should I not take pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are many more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and many beasts as well?

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