Jonah 1:1-17
1 The word of Jehovah came to Joʹnah*+ the son of A·mitʹtai, saying:
2 “Get up, go to Ninʹe·veh+ the great city, and proclaim judgment against her, for their wickedness has come to my attention.”
3 But Joʹnah got up to run away from Jehovah to Tarʹshish; he went down to Jopʹpa and found a ship going to Tarʹshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard to go with them to Tarʹshish, away from Jehovah.
4 Then Jehovah hurled a strong wind at the sea, and there was such a violent storm on the sea that the ship was about to be wrecked.
5 The mariners were so frightened that each of them began to call on his god for help. And they began throwing the articles of the ship into the sea, to make it lighter.+ But Joʹnah had gone down into the inner part of the ship,* where he lay down and fell fast asleep.
6 The ship captain approached and said to him: “Why are you sleeping? Get up, call out to your god! Perhaps the true God will show his concern for us, and we will not perish.”+
7 Then they said to one another: “Come, let us cast lots+ to find out who is to blame for this calamity.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell to Joʹnah.+
8 They said to him: “Please tell us, who is to blame for this calamity that has come upon us? What is your work, and where do you come from? What is your country, and from what people are you?”
9 He replied: “I am a Hebrew, and I fear* Jehovah the God of the heavens, the One who made the sea and the dry land.”
10 At this the men became even more afraid, and they asked him: “What have you done?” (The men learned that he was running away from Jehovah, because he had told them.)
11 So they 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.
12 He replied: “Lift me up and throw me into the sea, and the sea will calm down for you; for I know that it is because of me that this violent storm has come upon you.”
13 However, the men rowed hard* to bring the ship back to dry land, but they could not, because the sea grew more and more stormy around them.
14 Then they called out to Jehovah and said: “Ah, now, O Jehovah, please, may we not perish because of this man!* Do not hold us responsible for innocent blood, since you have done as you pleased, O Jehovah.”
15 Then they lifted Joʹnah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased its raging.
16 Then the men were struck with great fear of Jehovah,+ and they offered a sacrifice to Jehovah and made vows.
17 Jehovah now sent a huge fish to swallow Joʹnah, so that Joʹnah came to be in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.+
Footnotes
^ Meaning “Dove.”
^ Or “decked vessel.”
^ Or “worship.”
^ Or “tried to work their way through.”
^ Or “because of the soul of this man!”