Jonah 1

1The word of Yahweh came to Jonah son of Amittai:

2“Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”

3But Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of Yahweh.

4Then Yahweh hurled a great wind on the sea, and there was such a great storm on the sea that the ship was about to break apart.

5The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god. They hurled the cargo on the ship into the sea to lighten it for themselves. But Jonah had gone down into the hold of the vessel, and he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.

6The captain came to him and said, “How can you be sleeping? Get up! Call on your god! Maybe the god will take notice of us, and we will not perish.”

7Then they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots so that we may find out on whose account this disaster has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

8They said to him, “Tell us, on whose account has this disaster come upon us? What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”

9He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

10Then the men were terrified and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yahweh, because he had told them.

11They said to him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” For the sea was growing more and more stormy.

12He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea, and the sea will calm down for you. For I know that it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.”

13Instead, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea was growing more and more stormy against them.

14Then they cried out to Yahweh, “Please, Yahweh, do not let us perish for taking this man’s life, and do not hold us guilty of innocent blood, for you, Yahweh, have done as you pleased.”

15So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.

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

17Yahweh appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.