Jonah 1:1–16

Jonah Flees the Presence of the Lord

1Now the word of the Lord came to ^aJonah the son of Amittai, saying, ²“Arise, go to ^bNineveh, that ^cgreat city, and call out against it, ^dfor their evil¹ has come up before me.” ³But Jonah ^erose to flee to ^fTarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to ^gJoppa and found a ship going to ^fTarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to ^fTarshish, ^haway from the presence of the Lord.

⁴But ⁱthe Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened ^jto break up. ⁵Then the mariners were afraid, and ^keach cried out to his god. And ^lthey hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. ⁶So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, ^kcall out to your god! ^mPerhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

Jonah Is Thrown into the Sea

⁷And they said to one another, “Come, let us ⁿcast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” ⁹And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear ^othe Lord, the God of heaven, ^pwho made the sea and the dry land.” ¹⁰Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that ^hhe was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

¹¹Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. ¹²He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, ^qfor I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” ¹³Nevertheless, the men rowed hard² to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. ¹⁴Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and ^rlay not on us innocent blood, ^sfor you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” ¹⁵So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, ^tand the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, ^uand they offered a sacrifice to the Lord ^vand made vows.