(1) The word of Adonai came to Jonah son of Amittai: (2) Get up and go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim judgment upon it; for their wickedness has come before Me. (3) Jonah, however, started out to flee to Tarshish from Adonai's service. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went aboard to sail with the others to Tarshish, away from the service of Adonai.

(4) But Adonai cast a mighty wind upon the sea, and such a great tempest came upon the sea that the ship was in danger of breaking up. (5) In their fright, the sailors cried out, each to his own god; and they flung the ship’s cargo overboard to make it lighter for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the vessel where he lay down and fell asleep.

(6) The captain went over to him and cried out, “How can you be sleeping so soundly! Up, call upon your god! Perhaps that god will be kind to us and we will not perish.”

(7) The men said to one another, “Let us cast lots and find out on whose account this misfortune has come upon us.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.

(14) Then they cried out to Adonai: “Oh, please, Adonai, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not hold us guilty of killing an innocent person! For You, O Adonai, by Your will, have brought this about.” (15) And they heaved Jonah overboard, and the sea stopped raging. (16) The men feared Adonai greatly; they offered a sacrifice to Adonai and they made vows.

(1) Adonai appointed a huge fish to swallow Jonah; and he was inside the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. (2) Jonah prayed to Adonai his God inside belly of the fish. (3) He said: "In my trouble I called to the Adonai, And God answered me; From the belly of Sheol I cried out, And You heard my voice...

(10) But I, with loud thanksgiving, Will sacrifice to You; What I have vowed I will perform. Deliverance is Adonai's!" (11) Adonai spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out onto dry land.

(1) The word of Adonai came to Jonah a second time: (2) “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it what I tell you.” (3) Jonah went at once to Nineveh in accordance with Adonai command. Nineveh was an enormously large city a three days’ walk across. (4) Jonah started out and made his way into the city the distance of one day’s walk, and proclaimed: “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (5) The people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast, and great and small alike put on sackcloth.

(10) God saw what they did, how they were turning back from their evil ways. And God renounced the punishment originally planned for them, and did not carry it out.

(1) This displeased Jonah greatly, and he burned with rage. (2) He prayed to Adonai, saying, "Adonai! Isn’t this just what I said when I was still in my own country? That is why I fled beforehand to Tarshish. For I know that You are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in kindness, renouncing punishment. (3) Please, Adonai, take my life, for I would rather die than live.” (4) Adonai replied, “Are you that deeply grieved?”

(5) Now Jonah had left the city and found a place east of the city. He made a booth there and sat under it in the shade, until he should see what happened to the city. (6) Adonai God appointed a vine of a (kikayon) plant, which grew up over Jonah, to provide shade for his head and save him from discomfort. Jonah was very happy about the kikayon.

(7) But the next day at dawn God appointed a worm, which attacked the kikayon so that it withered. (8) And when the sun rose, God provided a warm east wind; the sun beat down on Jonah’s head, and he became faint. He begged for death, saying, “I would rather die than live.” (9) Then God said to Jonah, “Are you so deeply grieved about the kiyayon?”

“Yes,” he replied, “so deeply that I want to die.” (10) Then Adonai said: “You cared about the kiyayon, which you did not work for and which you did not grow, one that appeared overnight and withered overnight. (11) But should I not care about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right from their left, and many beasts as well?!”

(19) The Divine will take us back in love; God will cover up our iniquities, and will hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea. (20) You will keep faith with Jacob, Loyalty to Abraham, As You promised on oath to our ancestors in days gone by.

(7) "And Adonai had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah" (Jonah 1:17). Rabbi Ṭarfon said: That fish was specially appointed from the six days of Creation to swallow up Jonah, as it is said, "And Adonai had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah" (ibid.). He entered its mouth just as one enters the great synagogue, and he stood (therein). The two eyes of the fish were like windows of glass giving light to Jonah.

[And Jonah said to the fish], "show me what is in the sea and in the depths." It showed him the great river of the waters of the Ocean, as it is said, "The deep was round about me" (Jonah 2:5), and it showed him the paths of the Reed Sea through which Israel passed, as it is said, "The reeds were wrapped about my head" (ibid.); and it showed him the place whence the waves of the sea and its billows flow, as it is said, "All || thy waves and thy billows passed over me" (Jonah 2:3); and it showed him the pillars of the earth in its foundations, as it is said, "The earth with her bars for the world were by me" (Jonah 2:6); and it showed him the lowest Sheol, as it is said, "Yet hast thou brought up my life from destruction, O Lord, my God" (ibid.); and it showed him Gehinnom, as it is said, "Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and thou didst hear my voice" (Jonah 2:2); and it showed him (what was) beneath the Temple of God, as it is said,"(I went down) to the bottom of the mountains" (Jonah 2:6). Hence we may learn that Jerusalem stands upon seven (hills), and he saw there the Eben Shethiyah (Foundation Stone) fixed in the depths.