Jonah 1

CHAPTER 1

Jonah Flees from Yahweh’s Presence

¹Now the word of ¹Yahweh came to ^aJonah the son of Amittai saying,

²“Arise, go to ^aNineveh, the great city, and ^bcall out against it, for their ^cevil has come up before Me.”

³Yet Jonah arose to flee to ^aTarshish ^bfrom the presence of Yahweh. So he went down to ^cJoppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, and ¹paid its fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.

⁴But ^aYahweh hurled a great wind on the sea, and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship gave thought to ¹breaking apart.

⁵Then the sailors became fearful, and every man cried to ^ahis god, and they ^bhurled the ¹cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it ²for them. But Jonah had gone down below into the innermost part of the vessel, lain down, and fallen deep asleep.

⁶So the captain came near to him and said to him, “How is it that you are deeply sleeping? Arise, ^acall on your god. Perhaps your ^bgod will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.”

⁷Then each man said to the other, “Come, let us ^1ahave the lots fall so we may know on whose account this calamitous evil has struck us.” So they ²had the lots fall, and the ^blot fell on Jonah.

⁸Then they said to him, “^aTell us, now! On whose account has this calamitous evil struck us? What is your ^boccupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”

⁹And he said to them, “I am a ^aHebrew, and I ^bfear Yahweh, the ^cGod of heaven, who ^dmade the sea and the dry land.”

¹⁰Then the men became greatly fearful, and they said to him, “What is this you have done?” For the men knew that he was ^afleeing from the presence of Yahweh because he had told them.

¹¹So they said to him, “What should we do to you that the sea may become quiet ¹for us?”—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy.

¹²So he said to them, “Lift me up and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will become quiet ¹for you, for I know that ^aon account of me this great storm has come upon you.”

¹³However, the men ¹rowed desperately to return to dry land, but they could not, for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy against them.

¹⁴Then they called on ^aYahweh and said, “Ah! O Yahweh, we earnestly pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life, and do not put innocent blood on us; for ^bYou, O Yahweh, as You have pleased You have done.”

¹⁵So they lifted Jonah up and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ^astood still from its raging.

¹⁶Then the men greatly feared Yahweh, and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and made ^avows.

¹⁷¹And Yahweh appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the ^astomach of the fish three days and three nights.