JONAH

AN ALLEGORY ILLUSTRATING THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD TO ALL MANKIND

NOW THE WORD OF YAHWEH came unto Jonah son of Amittai, saying:

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city,
And cry against it;

For their wickedness is come up before Me.

But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare thereof and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. But Yahweh sent a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid and cried, every man to his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them. But Jonah had gone down to the side of the ship; and he lay there fast asleep.

So the shipmaster came to him and said unto him: What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. And they said, every one to his fellow: Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose sake this evil is come upon us. And they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

Then said they unto him: Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is come upon us; what is thine occupation and whence comest thou? what is thy country and of what people art thou? And he said unto them: I am a Hebrew; and I fear Yahweh, the God of Heaven, who hath made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him: Why hast thou done this? for the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yahweh, because he had told them.

Then said they unto him: What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought and was tempestuous.

And he said: Take me up and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm for you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get to the land; but they could not; for the sea was tempestuous against them. Wherefore they cried unto Yahweh, and said: We beseech Thee, O Yahweh, we beseech Thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood; for Thou, O Yahweh, hast done as it pleased Thee. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea; and the sea ceased from raging. Then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice unto Yahweh and made vows.

Now Yahweh had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto Yahweh his God out of the belly of the fish, and said:

I cried by reason of my affliction unto Yahweh,1
And He heard me.

Out of the belly of Sheol cried I,-
Thou didst hear my voice.

For Thou hadst cast me into the deep,
Into the midst of the seas,

And the floods compassed me about;

All Thy billows and Thy waves passed over me.

Then I said: I am cast out of Thy sight,

Yet I will look once more toward Thy holy Temple.
The waters compassed me about to my very soul;
The depth closed me round about,

The weeds were wrapped about my head;

I went down to the roots of the mountains;
The earth with her bars enclosed me forever;
Yet hast Thou brought up my life from corruption,
O Yahweh, my God!

When my soul was fainting within me,

I remembered Yahweh, into Thy Holy Temple. forsake their own mercy;

And my prayer came in unto Thee,
They that observe lying vanities
But I will sacrifice to Thee with the voice of thanksgiving;

I will pay that which I have vowed.

Salvation is of Yahweh.

And Yahweh spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

And the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the second time, saying: Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh, according unto the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried and said: Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown! So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock taste anything; let them not feed nor drink water; but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God; yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?

And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil that He had said He would do unto them; and He did it not.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto Yahweh, and said: I pray Thee, O Yahweh, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore did I flee before unto Tarshish; for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and repentest Thee of the evil. Therefore, now, O Yahweh, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

1 The prayer is evidently a song of thanksgiving, not a cry of distress. But it was as evidently chosen by the author for the figurative images of despair which, taken literally, perfectly describe the situation in which he has placed Jonah. The original writer is greatly indebted to the psalms.

Then said Yahweh: Doest thou well to be angry?

So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city, and made him a booth there, and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. And Yahweh prepared a gourd, and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.

But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd so that it withered. And it came to pass when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah so that he became faint, and wished in himself to die, and said: Better for me is it to die than to live!

And God said unto Jonah: Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said: I do well to be angry, even unto death!

Then said Yahweh: Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night; and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

ESTHER

A TALE OF THE PERSIAN COURT 1

Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus (the Ahasuerus that ruled from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces), in those days when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom in Shushan the palace, in the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces being before him; when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty many days,-an hundred and fourscore days. And when those days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace; where were white, green and blue hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble; the couches were of gold and silver upon a pavement of red and blue and black and white marble. And they were given drink in vessels of gold (the vessels being diverse one from another,), and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king. And the drinking was according to the law; none did compel; for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure.

Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house of Ahasuerus.

On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to show the people and the princes her beauty; for she was fair to look upon. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains; therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.

Then the king said to the wise men which knew the times (for so was the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment; and the next unto him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king's face, and sat the first in the kingdom): What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus through the chamberlains? And Memucan answered before the king and the princes: Vashti the queen hath done wrong not only to the king, but also to the princes,

1 The one book of the "Kethubim" or "Hagiographa" (the works gathered together after the Second Canon had been closed) which is purely secular. But the events recorded, however here exaggerated, are regarded as the foundation of the Feast of Purim, a most popular feast in the Jewish calendar. It prescribes no religious ceremonies, but is a day of rejoicing and good-will similar to our New Year's Day. The story represents well the character of Xerxes (Ahasuerus), and the rise of the Jew, Mordecai, to honor is not improbable.

and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus. For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands when it shall be reported: The king Ahasuerus commanded the queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she came not. Thus also the ladies of Persia and Media shall say this day unto all the king's princes which have heard of the deed of the queen, and thus shall arise too much contempt and wrath. If it please the king, let there go a royal decree from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered; that Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. And when the king's decree that he shall have made shall be published throughout all his empire (for it is great), all the wives shall give their husbands all honor, both to great and small.

And the saying pleased the king and the princes; and the king did according to the word of Memucan; for he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language; that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that this should be published according to the language of every people.

After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, what she had done and what was decreed against her. Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him: Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king; and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women unto the custody of Hegai the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let all things for their purification be given unto them; and let the maiden that pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king, and he did so.

In Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish; a Benjamite who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. And he brought up Hadassah (Esther), his uncle's daughter; for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter. So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and his decree were heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness from him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification with such things as belonged to her, and seven maidens meet to be given her out of the king's house; and he preferred her and her maids unto the best place of the house of the women. Esther had not told her people nor her kindred; for Mordecai had charged her not to tell it. And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to know what Esther did and what should become of her.

Now when every maid's turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months according to the manner of the women (for so were the days of their purification accomplished,-six months with oil of myrrh and six months with sweet odors and other things for the purifying of women), then thus every maiden came unto