Jonah 1

1 And the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying:

And the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying,

2 Rise and go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach in it. For its malice has ascended before my eyes.

Up! go to Nineveh, that great town, and let your voice come to it; for their evil-doing has come up before me.

3 And Jonah rose in order to flee from the face of the Lord to Tarshish. And he went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish. And he paid its fare, and he went down into it, in order to go with them to Tarshish from the face of the Lord.

And Jonah got up to go in flight to Tarshish, away from the Lord; and he went down to Joppa, and saw there a ship going to Tarshish: so he gave them the price of the journey and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the Lord.

4 But the Lord sent a great wind into the sea. And a great tempest took place in the sea, and the ship was in danger of being crushed.

And the Lord sent out a great wind on to the sea and there was a violent storm in the sea, so that the ship seemed in danger of being broken.

5 And the mariners were afraid, and the men cried out to their god. And they threw the containers that were in the ship into the sea in order to lighten it of them. And Jonah went down into the interior of the ship, and he fell into a painful deep sleep.

Then the sailors were full of fear, every man crying to his god; and the goods in the ship were dropped out into the sea to make the weight less. But Jonah had gone down into the inmost part of the ship where he was stretched out in a deep sleep.

6 And the helmsman approached him, and he said to him, “Why are you weighed down with sleep? Rise, call upon your God, so perhaps God will be mindful of us and we might not perish.”

And the ship's captain came to him and said to him, What are you doing sleeping? Up! say a prayer to your God, if by chance God will give a thought to us, so that we may not come to destruction.

7 And a man said to his shipmate, “Come, and let us cast lots, so that we may know why this disaster is upon us.” And they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

And they said to one another, Come, let us put this to the decision of chance and see on whose account this evil has come on us. So they did so, and Jonah was seen to be the man.

8 And they said to him: “Explain to us what is the reason that this disaster is upon us. What is your work? Which is your country? And where are you going? Or which people are you from?”

Then they said to him, Now make clear to us what is your work, and where you come from? what is your country, and who are your people?

9 And he said to them, “I am Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

And he said to them, I am a Hebrew, a worshipper of the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.

10 And the men were greatly afraid, and they said to him, “Why have you done this?” (For the men knew that he was fleeing from the face of the Lord, because he had told them.)

And the men were in great fear, and they said to him, What is this you have done? For the men had knowledge of his flight from the Lord because he had not kept it from them.

11 And they said to him, “What are we to do with you, so that the sea will cease for us?” For the sea flowed and swelled.

And they said to him, What are we to do to you so that the sea may become calm for us? For the sea was getting rougher and rougher.

12 And he said to them, “Take me, and cast me into the sea, and the sea will cease for you. For I know that it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”

And he said to them, Take me up and put me into the sea, and the sea will become calm for you: for I am certain that because of me this great storm has come on you.

13 And the men were rowing, so as to return to dry land, but they did not succeed. For the sea flowed and swelled against them.

And the men were working hard to get back to the land, but they were not able to do so: for the sea got rougher and rougher against them.

14 And they cried out to the Lord, and they said, “We beseech you, Lord, do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not attribute to us innocent blood. For you, Lord, have done just as it pleased you.”

So, crying to the Lord, they said, Give ear to our prayer, O Lord, give ear, and do not let destruction overtake us because of this man's life; do not put on us the sin of taking life without cause: for you, O Lord, have done what seemed good to you.

15 And they took Jonah and cast him into the sea. And the sea was stilled from its fury.

So they took Jonah up and put him into the sea: and the sea was no longer angry.

16 And the men feared the Lord greatly, and they sacrificed victims to the Lord, and they made vows.

Then great was the men's fear of the Lord; and they made an offering to the Lord and took oaths to him.

17 And the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

And the Lord made ready a great fish to take Jonah into its mouth; and Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.