Jonah

A literal-literary translation by Tim Mackie

The word of Yahweh came to Yonah the son of Amittai saying, 2“Arise, go to Nineveh the great
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city and call out against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
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And Yonah arose to flee to Tarshish from before the face of Yahweh and he went down to
Joppaand he found a ship which was going to Tarshish and he paid the fare and he went down
into it to go with them to Tarshish from before the face of Yahweh.

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And Yahweh hurled a great wind to the sea and there was a great storm on the sea, and the
ship considered breaking apart. 5And the sailors feared and each cried to his elohim, and they
hurled the cargo which was in the ship to the sea to make it lighter from upon them. And Yonah
went down into the far reaches of the ship, and he laid down and fell asleep.
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And the chief of the sailors approached him and said, “What is it with you, sleeping? Arise, call
to your Elohim. Perhaps the-Elohim will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.” 7And
each man said to his companion, “Come, let us cause lots to fall, so that we can know on
whose account this evil is to us.” So they caused lots to fall and the lot fell on Yonah.
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And they said to him, “Please tell us, on whose account is this evil to us? What is your work?
And from where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” 9And
said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh Elohim of heaven who made the sea and the
dry land.”
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And the men feared a great fear and they said to him, “What is this you have done?” For the
men knew that he was fleeing from before the face of Yahweh, because he had told them.
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And they said to him, “What should we do to you that the sea may become quiet for us?” for
the sea was going and storming. 12And he said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me to the sea.
Then the sea will become quiet for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm is to
you.” 13And the men dug in to turn back to land, but they could not, for the sea was going and
storming against them. 14And they called out to Yahweh and said, “Please Yahweh, do not let us
perish on account of this man’s life and don’t set innocent blood against us, for you, Yahweh,
have done as you have pleased.” 15And they picked up Yonah, and they hurled him to the sea,
and the sea stopped its raging.
Then the men feared Yahweh a great fear, and they offered sacrifices to Yahweh and they
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vowed vows.
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And Yahweh appointed a great fish to swallow Yonah and Yonah was in the inner-parts of the
fish three days and three nights.
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and Yonah prayed to Yahweh his Elohim from the inner-parts of the fish, 2and he said:
I called out from my distress to Yahweh
and he answered me;
from the belly of the grave/Sheol I shouted for help
and you heard my voice;
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and you cast me to the deep, to the heart of the seas
and a river surrounded me
all your waves and breakers passed over me
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and I said: I am banished from before your eyes
however, I will continue to gaze to your holy temple
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the waters encircled me up to the neck
the deep surrounded me
kelp wrapped to my head
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to the bases of the mountains I went down
the underworld, its bars around me, forever
but you raised up my life from the pit, Yahweh my Elohim
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when my being was fainting within me,
I remembered Yahweh
and my prayer came to you
to your holy temple
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those who keep idols of worthlessness
forsake the covenant love shown them
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but I, with a voice of thanksgiving, I will sacrifice to you
what I have vowed I will pay in full
Rescue belongs to Yahweh!
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And Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited Yonah onto the dry land.

And the word of Yahweh was to Yonah a second time, saying: 2“Arise, go to Nineveh the great
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city, and call out to it the calling-out which I am speaking to you.

was a great city to Elohim, a walking of three days. 4And Yonah began to go into the city a
walking of one day, and he called out, and he said, “Forty days, and Nineveh is overturned.”

And the men of Nineveh believed in Elohim, and they called out a fast, and they were clothed
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with sackcloth, from the great of them and to the small of them.
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And the word reached to the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne and he removed his
robe from upon him and he covered with sackcloth and he sat in the dust. 7And he cried out
and he said: “In Nineveh, from order of the king and his great ones, saying: The human and the
beast, the cattle and the flock, don’t let them taste anything; don’t let them graze; and don’t let
them drink water, 8and let them cover themselves with sackcloth, the human and the beast,
and let them call out to Elohim with force, and let each man turn from his evil way and from the
violence that is in his hands. 9Who knows? The-Elohim may turn and repent and turn from the
heat of his anger, so that we will not perish.
 And the-Elohim saw their doings, that they turned from their evil way, and the-Elohim repent-
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ed concerning the evil which he spoke to do to them, and he did not do it.

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And it was evil to Yonah, a great evil, and there was heat-anger to him.
2
And he prayed to Yahweh and he said,
“Please, Yahweh! Was not this my word while I was upon my land? Therefore I acted before to
flee to Tarshish, because I knew that you are a Elohim, gracious and compassionate, long-of-
anger, and great of covenant love, and who repents concerning evil.

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And now, Yahweh, take please my life from me, for good is my death more than my living.
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And Yahweh said, “Is it good that there is heat-anger to you?”

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And Yonah went out from the city, and he sat from the east of the city, and he made for him-
self there a tent, and he dwelt under it in the shade, until he might see what would happen to
the city. 6And Yahweh Elohim appointed a plant and it arose from over Yonah, to be a shade
upon his head, to deliver him from his evil, and Yonah rejoiced over the plant, a great rejoicing.
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And the-Elohim appointed a worm at the rising of the dawn on the next day, and it struck the
plant and it dried up.
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And it came about as the sun shone that Elohim appointed an east wind, a hot one, and the
sun struck the upon the head of Yonah, and he fainted, and he requested his life for death, and
he said, “Better is my death more than my living.”

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And Elohim said to Yonah, “Is it good that there is heat-anger to you over this plant?” And he
said, “It is good that there is heat-anger to me, unto death!”

And Yahweh said, “You had pity over this plant, which you did not labor for it, nor did you
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make it great, which a son of the night it was, and a son of the night it perished.
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And I, should I not have pity over Nineveh, the great city, which there is in it more than twelve
ten-thousand humans, who don’t know between their right and their left, and many animals?