Lessons from Jonah: Forgiveness & Change

(1) Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying: (2) ’Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim judgment upon it; for their wickedness is come up before Me.’ (3) But Jonah started to flee to Tarshish from the Lord's service; and he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the service of the Lord.

(1) And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying: (2) ’Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it what I tell you.’ (3) So Jonah went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an enormously large city- a three-days walk across. (4) And Jonah began to enter the city a distance of a day’s journey, and he proclaimed, ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’ (5) And the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. (6) And the tidings reached the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne, took off his robe, put on a sackcloth, and sat in ashes. (7) And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying: ‘Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing; let them not feed, nor drink water; (8) but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast, and let them cry mightily unto God; let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. (9) Who knows but that God may turn and relent?’ (10) And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. And God renounced the punishment that God had planned to bring up them, and did not carry it out.

(1) This displeased Jonah greatly, and he was angry. (2) And he prayed unto the Lord and said: ‘I pray Thee, O Lord, isn't this just what I said when I was still in my own country? That is why I feld beforehand to Tarshish. For I know that You are a gracious God, and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, and renouncing punishement. (3) Therefore now, O Lord take my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.'