God spoke to Jonah
And gave him com­mand:
Go east to Ni­ne­veh
And tell them My plan.
Jonah ob­ject­ed
And fled from the Lord;
Soon found a ship head­ed
West, went on board.
Then God sent forth a tem­pest;
Upon the ship it beat.
Each man cried to his own god,
But Jo­nah fell asleep.
The sail­ors came and woke him,
His bu­si­ness did d­emand.
He said, My God’s
The Lord of Heav’n,
Who made the sea and land.

The sea grew rough­er,
Till Jo­nah did cry,
It’s all my fault,
Cast me down, let me die!
They tried to row back
But could not pre­vail;
Threw Jon­ah ov­er;
The waves then grew still.
Then God sent forth a great fish;
It swal­lowed him al­ive.
For three days from its stom­ach,
He prayed to God on high.
He gave up worth­less id­ols;
With thanks he spoke this word:
What I have vowed
I will make good;
Salvation’s from the Lord.

God told the fish to
Spit Jo­nah back out;
Then said to Jo­nah,
To Ni­ne­veh set out.
Jonah ob­eyed and
Proclaimed all God’s word:
Forty more days,
Then you’ll all be de­stroyed!
The people all believ­ed God;
They fast­ed and they prayed.
In sack­cloth they re­pent­ed,
Gave up their ev­il ways.
When God saw their re­pent­ance,
He felt com­pas­sion great.
He turned from his fierce an­ger and
Did not ful­fill his threat.

Jonah was ang­ry
That God would for­give;
Said, Lord, please kill me,
I don’t want to live.
Then he went out­side
The ci­ty to see
What God would do,
What the out­come would be.
God sent a vine to shade him,
But then he sent a worm.
The vine did quick­ly wi­ther;
The wind and sun did burn.
In an­ger Jo­nah cried out;
He thought his life should end.
God said, You cared
About the vine;
Should I not care for men?

Lord, when a mis­sion
You give un­to me,
May I ob­ey You
And not try to flee.
You are so gra­cious,
Compassionate e’er,
Slow to get an­gry,
Abounding in care.
May I pro­claim Your mes­sage
To those who need to hear,
So that they will not per­ish,
Nor judg­ment from You fear.
May I not val­ue com­fort,
Nor fault You for Your grace.
Give me your heart
For all the lost,
Until I see Your face.