Jonah: The Prophet of Teshuva

(11) The earth became corrupt before God; the earth was filled with lawlessness. (12) When God saw how corrupt the earth was, for all flesh had corrupted its ways on earth, (13) God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with lawlessness because of them: I am about to destroy them with the earth. (14) Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make it an ark with compartments, and cover it inside and out with pitch. (17) “For My part, I am about to bring the Flood—waters upon the earth—to destroy all flesh under the sky in which there is breath of life; everything on earth shall perish.

(1) Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, with all your household, for you alone have I found righteous before Me in this generation. (2) Of every clean animal you shall take seven pairs, males and their mates, and of every animal that is not clean, two, a male and its mate; (3) of the birds of the sky also, seven pairs, male and female, to keep seed alive upon all the earth. (4) For in seven days’ time I will make it rain upon the earth, forty days and forty nights, and I will blot out from the earth all existence that I created.” (5) And Noah did just as the LORD commanded him.

(18) So Noah came out, together with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. (19) Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that stirs on earth came out of the ark by families. (20) Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking of every clean animal and of every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar. (21) The LORD smelled the pleasing odor, and the LORD said to His own heart: “Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the devisings of man’s mind are evil from his youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living being, as I have done. (22) So long as the earth endures, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Summer and winter, Day and night Shall not cease.”

(1) God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fertile and increase, and fill the earth.

(7) Be fertile, then, and increase; abound on the earth and increase on it.”

(18) The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth—Ham being the father of Canaan. (19) These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole world branched out. (20) Noah, the tiller of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. (21) He drank of the wine and became drunk, and he uncovered himself within his tent. (22) Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside. (23) But Shem and Japheth took a cloth, placed it against both their backs and, walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness; their faces were turned the other way, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.

(29) And all the days of Noah came to 950 years; then he died.

(1) The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: (2) Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim judgment upon it; for their wickedness has come before Me.

(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 the 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. (8) They said to him, “Tell us, you who have brought this misfortune upon us, what is your business? Where have you come from? What is your country, and of what people are you?” (9) “I am a Hebrew,” he replied. “I worship the LORD, the God of Heaven, who made both sea and land.” (10) The men were greatly terrified, and they asked him, “What have you done?” And when the men learned that he was fleeing from the service of the LORD—for so he told them— (11) they said to him, “What must we do to you to make the sea calm around us?” For the sea was growing more and more stormy. (12) He answered, “Heave me overboard, and the sea will calm down for you; for I know that this terrible storm came upon you on my account.” (13) Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to regain the shore, but they could not, for the sea was growing more and more stormy about them. (14) Then they cried out to the LORD: “Oh, please, LORD, 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 LORD, by Your will, have brought this about.” (15) And they heaved Jonah overboard, and the sea stopped raging. (16) The men feared the LORD greatly; they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and they made vows.

(24) Perhaps there should be fifty innocent within the city; will You then wipe out the place and not forgive it for the sake of the innocent fifty who are in it? (28) Perhaps the fifty innocent should lack five? Will You destroy the whole city for want of the five?” And He answered, “I will not destroy if I find forty-five there.” (29) But he spoke to Him again, and said, “Perhaps forty should be found there?” And He answered, “I will not do it, for the sake of the forty.” (30) And he said, “Let not my Lord be angry if I go on: Perhaps thirty should be found there?” And He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” (31) And he said, “I venture again to speak to my Lord: Perhaps twenty should be found there?” And He answered, “I will not destroy, for the sake of the twenty.” (32) And he said, “Let not my Lord be angry if I speak but this last time: Perhaps ten should be found there?” And He answered, “I will not destroy, for the sake of the ten.”

(4) Rabbi Chanina said: (Men) of the seventy languages were there on the ship, and each one had his god in his hand, (each one) saying: And the God who shall reply and deliver us from this trouble, He shall be God. They arose and every one called upon the name of his god, but it availed nought. Now Jonah, because of the anguish of his soul, was slumbering and asleep. The captain of the ship came to him, saying, Behold, we are standing betwixt death and life, and thou art slumbering and sleeping; of what people art thou? He answered them, "I am an Hebrew" (Jonah 1:9). (The captain) said to him, Have we not heard that the God of the Hebrews is great? Arise, call upon thy God, perhaps He will work (salvation) for us according to all His miracles which He did for you at the Reed Sea. He answered them, It is on my account that this misfortune has befallen you; take me up and cast me into the sea and the sea will become calm unto you, as it is said, "And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you" (Jonah 1:12).

(2) He prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD! 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.

(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. (6) When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. (7) And he had the word cried through Nineveh: “By decree of the king and his nobles: No man or beast—of flock or herd—shall taste anything! They shall not graze, and they shall not drink water! (8) They shall be covered with sackcloth—man and beast—and shall cry mightily to God. Let everyone turn back from his evil ways and from the injustice of which he is guilty. (9) Who knows but that God may turn and relent? He may turn back from His wrath, so that we do not perish.”

(1) This displeased Jonah greatly, and he was grieved. (2) He prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD! 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, LORD, take my life, for I would rather die than live.” (4) The LORD 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) The LORD God provided a ricinus plant, which grew up over Jonah, to provide shade for his head and save him from discomfort. Jonah was very happy about the plant. (7) But the next day at dawn God provided a worm, which attacked the plant so that it withered. (8) And when the sun rose, God provided a sultry 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 plant?” “Yes,” he replied, “so deeply that I want to die.” (10) Then the LORD said: “You cared about the plant, which you did not work for and which you did not grow, which appeared overnight and perished overnight. (11) And should not I care about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not yet know their right hand from their left, and many beasts as well?”