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Book of Yahnah




The Book of Yahnah [Jonah]

Chapter 1

1 Now the Word of YHWH [Yahwah] came to Yahnah [Jonah] the son of Amittai, saying:

2 Arise, go to Nineveh [capitol of Assyria], that great city, and cry against it. For their wickedness is come up before me.

3 But Yahnah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahwah [YHWH]. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahwah.

4 But Yahwah sent out a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken.

5 Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried to his gods. They cast forth the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Yahnah was gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, where he lay, and was sound asleep.

6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said to him: What do you do, O sleeper? Arise, call upon your god, if so be that god will think upon us, that we not perish.

7 They said every one to his fellow: Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Yahnah.

8 Then they said to him: Tell us, we pray you, for what reason this evil is upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?

9 He said to them: I am a Hebrew. I fear Yahwah, the Father of heaven, who made the sea, and the dry land.

10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him: What is this that you did? The men knew he was fleeing from the presence of Yahwah, because he told them.

11 Then they said to him: What will we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us? For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.

12 He said to them: Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea. So the sea will be calm to you. I know this great tempest is upon you for my sake.

13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get back to the land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.

14 They cried to Yahwah, and said: We beg you, O Yahwah, we beg you, do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not lay innocent blood upon us. For you, O Yahwah, do as it pleases you.

15 So they took up Yahnah, cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.

16 Then the men feared Yahwah exceedingly, they offered a sacrifice to Yahwah, and made vows.

17 Yahwah prepared a great fish to swallow up Yahnah, and Yahnah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Chapter 2

1 Then Yahnah prayed to Yahwah his Father out of the fish's belly.

2 He said: I call by reason of my affliction to Yahwah, and He answers me. Out of the belly of the grave I cry, and you hear my voice.

3 For you did cast me into the depth, in the heart of the seas, and the flood was round about me. All your waves and your billows passed over me.

4 I said: I am cast out from before your eyes, yet I will look again toward your holy temple.

5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul, the deep was round about me, the weeds were wrapped about my head.

6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains, the earth closed its bars upon me for ever. Yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Yahwah my Father.

7 When my soul faints within me, I remember Yahwah. My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.

8 Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

9 I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving, I will pay what I vowed. Salvation is of Yahwah.

10 Yahwah spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Yahnah upon the dry land.

Chapter 3

1 The Word of Yahwah came to Yahnah the second time, saying:

2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the preaching that I bid you.

3 So Yahnah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the Word of Yahwah. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city, of three days journey.

4 Yahnah began to enter into the city a day's journey. He cried, and said: Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be overthrown.

5 The people of Nineveh believed Yahwah. They proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

6 The tidings reached the king of Nineveh. He arose from his throne, laid his robe from him, covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

7 He made proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything (let them not feed, nor drink water).

8 Let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast, and let them cry mightily to Yahwah. Yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands.

9 Who knows whether Yahwah will not turn, repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we do not perish?

10 Yahwah saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. Yahwah repented of the evil which He said He would do to them, and He did not do it.

Chapter 4

1 But it displeased Yahnah exceedingly, and he was angry.

2 He prayed to Yahwah, and said: I pray you, O Yahwah, was this not my saying, when I was still in my country? That is why I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew you are a gracious Father, merciful, slow to anger, abundant in lovingkindness, and repent yourself of the evil.

3 O Yahwah, I beg you, take my life from me. It is better for me to die, than to live.

4 Yahwah said: Do you well to be angry?

5 Then Yahnah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city. He made a booth there, and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city.

6 Yahwah our Father prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Yahnah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his evil case. So Yahnah was exceeding glad because of the gourd.

7 But Yahwah prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered.

8 It came to pass, when the sun arose, Yahwah prepared a sultry east wind. The sun beat upon the head of Yahnah, that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die. He said: It is better for me to die, than to live.

9 Yahwah said to Yahnah: Do you well to be angry for the gourd? And he said: I do well to be angry, even to death.

10 Yahwah said: You had regard for the gourd, for which you did not labor, nor make it grow. It came up in a night, and perished in a night.

11 Should I not have regard for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than sixscore thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle?








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