Shalom,
Now for the 2nd half of the awesome prophecy of Jonah.
Chapter 3
1. And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying:
2. Arise, go to Nineveh the great city, and proclaim upon it the proclamation that I speak to you.
3. And Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a walk of three days.
4. And Jonah commenced to come into the city, one day's walk, and he proclaimed and said, "In another forty days Nineveh shall be overturned!"
5. And the people of Nineveh believed in G-d, and they proclaimed a fast and donned sackcloth, from their greatest to their smallest.
6. And the word reached the king of Nineveh, whereupon he rose from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ashes.
7. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh: By the counsel of the king and his nobles, saying: Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep shall taste anything; they shall not graze, neither shall they drink water.
8. And they shall cover themselves with sackcloth, both man and beast, and they shall call mightily to G-d, and everyone shall repent of his evil way and of the dishonest gain which is in their hands.
9. Whoever knows shall repent, and G-d will relent, and He will return from His burning wrath, and we will not perish.
10. And G-d saw their deeds, that they had repented of their evil way, and the Lord relented concerning the evil that He had spoken to do to them, and He did not do it.
Chapter 4
1. Now it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was grieved.
2. And he prayed to the Lord and said, "Please, O Lord, was this not my contention while I was still on my land? For this reason I had hastened to flee to Tarshish, for I know that You are a gracious and merciful G-d, slow to anger, with much kindness, and relenting of evil.
3. And now, O Lord, take now my soul from me, for my death is better than my life."
4. And the Lord said: Are you deeply grieved?
5. And Jonah had gone out of the city, and had stationed himself on the east of the city, and there he made himself a hut and sat under it in the shade until he would see what would happen in the city.
6. Now the Lord G-d appointed a kikayon, and it grew up over Jonah to be shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort, and Jonah was overjoyed with the kikayon.
7. Now G-d appointed a worm at the rise of dawn on the morrow, and the worm attacked the kikayon, and it withered.
8. Now it came to pass when the sun shone, that G-d appointed a stilling east wind, and the sun beat on Jonah's head, and he fainted, and he begged to die, and he said, "My death is better than my life."
9. And G-d said to Jonah; Are you very grieved about the kikayon? And he said, "I am very grieved even to death."
10. And the Lord said: You took pity on the kikayon, for which you did not toil nor did you make it grow, which one night came into being and the next night perished.
11. Now should I not take pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are many more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and many beasts as well?
Shana Tova!
muman613
Topic: Jonah - Chapters 3 & 4 (Read 513 times)