Part 590 (1/2)

2:2. And Jonas prayed to the Lord, his G.o.d, out of the belly of the fish.

2:3. And he said: I cried out of my affliction to the Lord, and he heard me: I cried out of the belly of h.e.l.l, and thou hast heard my voice.

2:4. And thou hast cast me forth into the deep, in the heart of the sea, and a flood hast compa.s.sed me: all thy billows, and thy waves have pa.s.sed over me.

2:5. And I said: I am cast away out of the sight of thy eyes: but yet I shall see the holy temple again.

2:6. The waters compa.s.sed me about even to the soul: the deep hath closed me round about, the sea hath covered my head.

2:7. I went down to the lowest parts of the mountains: the bars of the earth have shut me up for ever: and thou wilt bring up my life from corruption, O Lord, my G.o.d.

2:8. When my soul was in distress within me, I remembered the Lord: that my prayer may come to thee, unto the holy temple.

2:9. They that in vain observe vanities, forsake their own mercy.

2:10. But I with the voice of praise will sacrifice to thee: I will pay whatsoever I have vowed for my salvation to the Lord.

2:11. And the Lord spoke to the fish: and it vomited out Jonas upon the dry land.

Spoke to the fish... G.o.d's speaking to the fish, was nothing else but his will, which all things obey.

Jonas Chapter 3

Jonas is sent again to preach in Ninive. Upon their fasting and repentance, G.o.d recalleth the sentence by which they were to be destroyed.

3:1. And the word of the Lord came to Jonas the second time saying:

3:2. Arise, and go to Ninive, the great city: and preach in it the preaching that I bid thee.

3:3. And Jonas arose, and went to Ninive, according to the word of the Lord: now Ninive was a great city of three days' journey.

Of three days' journey... By the computation of some ancient historians, Ninive was about fifty miles round: so that to go through all the chief streets and public places was three days' journey.

3:4. And Jonas began to enter into the city one day's journey: and he cried and said: Yet forty days and Ninive shall be destroyed.

3:5. And the men of Ninive believed in G.o.d: and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least.

3:6. And the word came to the king of Ninive: and he rose up out of his throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed in sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

3:7. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published in Ninive, from the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying: Let neither men nor beasts, oxen, nor sheep taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink water.

3:8. And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and cry to the Lord with all their strength, and let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands.

3:9. Who can tell if G.o.d will turn, and forgive: and will turn away from his fierce anger, and we shall not perish?

3:10. And G.o.d saw their works, that they were turned from their evil way: and G.o.d had mercy with regard to the evil which he had said that he would do to them, and he did it not.