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Psalm 22

Plea for Deliverance from Suffering and Hostility

To the leader: according to The Deer of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.
¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
   Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
² O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
   and by night, but find no rest.

³ Yet you are holy,
   enthroned on the praises of Israel.
⁴ In you our ancestors trusted;
   they trusted, and you delivered them.
⁵ To you they cried, and were saved;
   in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

⁶ But I am a worm, and not human;
   scorned by others, and despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock at me;
   they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
⁸ ‘Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—
   let him rescue the one in whom he delights!’

⁹ Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
   you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
¹⁰ On you I was cast from my birth,
   and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
¹¹ Do not be far from me,
   for trouble is near
   and there is no one to help.

¹² Many bulls encircle me,
   strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
¹³ they open wide their mouths at me,
   like a ravening and roaring lion.

¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
   and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
   it is melted within my breast;
¹⁵ my mouth^* is dried up like a potsherd,
   and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
   you lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶ For dogs are all around me;
   a company of evildoers encircles me.
My hands and feet have shrivelled;^*
17 I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
¹⁸ they divide my clothes among themselves,
   and for my clothing they cast lots.

¹⁹ But you, O Lord, do not be far away!
   O my help, come quickly to my aid!
²⁰ Deliver my soul from the sword,
   my life^* from the power of the dog!
²¹   Save me from the mouth of the lion!

From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued^* me.
²² I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;^*
   in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
²³ You who fear the Lord, praise him!
   All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
   stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
²⁴ For he did not despise or abhor
   the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me,^*
   but heard when I^* cried to him.

²⁵ From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
   my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
²⁶ The poor^* shall eat and be satisfied;
   those who seek him shall praise the Lord.
   May your hearts live for ever!

²⁷ All the ends of the earth shall remember
   and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations
   shall worship before him.^*
28 For dominion belongs to the Lord,
   and he rules over the nations.

²⁹ To him,^* indeed, shall all who sleep in^* the earth bow down;
   before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
   and I shall live for him.^*
30 Posterity will serve him;
   future generations will be told about the Lord,
³¹ and^* proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
   saying that he has done it.

Jonah

Jonah Tries to Run Away from God

1Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, ²‘Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.’ ³But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up. ⁵Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep. ⁶The captain came and said to him, ‘What are you doing sound asleep? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish.’

7 The sailors^* said to one another, ‘Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us.’ So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸Then they said to him, ‘Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do 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 the sea and the dry land.’ ¹⁰Then the men were even more afraid, and said to him, ‘What is this that you have done!’ For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them so.

11 Then they said to him, ‘What shall we do to you, that the sea may quieten down for us?’ For the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. ¹²He said to them, ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quieten down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.’ ¹³Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. ¹⁴Then they cried out to the Lord, ‘Please, O Lord, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood; for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.’ ¹⁵So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶Then the men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

17 ^*But the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.