Jonah 1

JONAH’S FLIGHT

1The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai:^{a 2}“Get up!^b Go to the great city^c of Nineveh^d and preach against it^e because their evil^f has come up before me.”^{g 3}Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish^h from the Lord’s presence.ⁱ He went down^j to Joppa^k and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence.

⁴But the Lord threw^l a great wind onto the sea,^m and such a great storm arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break apart. ⁵The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his god.ⁿ They threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load.^o Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel and had stretched out and fallen into a deep sleep.^p

⁶The captain approached him and said, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up! Call to your god.^Aq Maybe this god will consider us,^r and we won’t perish.”

⁷“Come on!” the sailors said to each other. “Let’s cast lots.^s Then we’ll know who is to blame for this trouble we’re in.” So they cast lots, and the lot singled out Jonah.^{t 8}Then they said to him, “Tell us who is to blame for this trouble we’re in.^u What is your business,^v and where are you from? What is your country, and what people are you from?”

⁹He answered them, “I’m a Hebrew.^w I worship^B the Lord,^x the God of the heavens,^y who made the sea^z and the dry land.”

¹⁰Then the men were seized by a great fear and said to him, “What have you done?” The men knew he was fleeing from the Lord’s presence^aa because he had told them. ¹¹So they said to him, “What should we do to you so that the sea will calm down for us?” For the sea was getting worse and worse.

¹²He answered them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea so that it will calm down for you, for I know that I’m to blame^ab for this great storm that is against you.” ¹³Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they couldn’t because the sea was raging against them more and more.

¹⁴So they called out to the Lord,^ac “Please, Lord, don’t let us perish because of this man’s life, and don’t charge us with innocent blood! For you, Lord, have done just as you pleased.”^{ad 15}Then they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.^{ae 16}The men were seized by great fear of the Lord,^af and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.^ag

¹⁷The Lord appointed a great fish^ah to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.^ai