Jonah 1

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonas the son of Amathi, saying:

The Lord spoke to Jonah the son of Amittai, telling him,

2 Arise, and go to Ninive the great city, and preach in it: for the wickedness thereof is come up before me.

“Go immediately to the great city of Nineveh and condemn it because I have seen the wickedness of its people.”

3 And Jonas rose up to flee into Tharsis from the face of the Lord, and he went down to Joppe, and found a ship going to Tharsis: and he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them to Tharsis from the face of the Lord.

But Jonah left and ran away to Tarshish to get away from the Lord. He went to Joppa where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He paid the fare and went on board to sail to Tarshish in order to get away from the Lord.

4 But the Lord sent a great wind into the sea: and a great tempest was raised in the sea, and the ship was in danger to be broken.

But the Lord sent a terrible wind across the sea, creating a violent storm that threatened to break up the ship.

5 And the mariners were afraid, and the men cried to their god: and they cast forth the wares that were in the ship, into the sea, to lighten it of them: and Jonas went down into the inner part of the ship, and fell into a deep sleep.

The sailors were terrified and each of them prayed to their own god to save them. They threw the cargo overboard to make the ship lighter. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold where he had laid down and fallen fast asleep.

6 And the shipmaster came to him, and said to him: Why art thou fast asleep? rise up, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think of us, that we may not perish.

The ship's captain went to Jonah and asked him, “How can you be sleeping? Get up and pray to your God. Maybe he will take notice of what's happening to us and we won't drown.”

7 And they said every one to his fellow: Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know why this evil is upon us. And they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonas.

Then the sailors said to each other, “Let's draw lots so we can find out who's to blame for this disaster that's fallen on us.” They drew lots and Jonah's name was came up.

8 And they said to him: Tell us for what cause this evil is upon us, what is thy business? of what country art thou? and whither goest thou? or of what people art thou?

So they asked him, “Tell us who is responsible for this trouble that we're in. What do you do for a living? Where are you from? What is your country? What is your nationality?”

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

“I am a Hebrew,” Jonah replied, “and I worship the Lord, the God of the heavens, the sea, and the land.”

10 And the men were greatly afraid, and they said to him: Why hast thou done this? (for the men knew that he fled from the face of the Lord: because he had told them.)

The sailors became even more terrified and said to Jonah, “What have you done?” because Jonah had explained to them that he was running away from the Lord.

11 And they said to him: What shall we do to thee, that the sea may be calm to us? for the sea flowed and swelled.

“What shall we do to you to calm the storm?” they asked him, since the storm was getting worse.

12 And he said to them: Take me up, and cast me into the sea, and the sea shall be calm to you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

“Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” Jonah replied. “Then the sea will become calm, because I know it's because of me that you're in this terrible storm.”

13 And the men rowed hard to return to land, but they were not able: because the sea tossed and swelled upon them.

Instead the sailors tried to row to get back to the shore, but they couldn't because the sea had become so wild from the worsening storm.

14 And they cried to the Lord, and said: We beseech thee, O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.

Then they called out to the Lord, “Lord! Please don't kill us for sacrificing this man's life or for spilling innocent blood, for you, Lord, made it happen.”

15 And they took Jonas, and cast him into the sea, and the sea ceased from raging.

So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea, and it became calm.

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

The sailors were overcome with fear. They offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made many promises to him.

17 Now the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonas: and Jonas was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

The Lord sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah spent three days and nights in the belly of the fish.