Jonas 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 Rise, and go to Nineve, the great city, and preach in it; for the cry of its wickedness is come up to me.

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

3 But Jonas rose up to flee to Tharsis from the presence of the Lord. And he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tharsis: and he paid his fare, and went up into it, to sail with them to Tharsis from the presence 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 And the Lord raised up a wind on the sea; and there was a great storm on the sea, and the ship was in danger of being 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 sailors were alarmed, and cried every one to his god, and cast out the wares that were in the ship into the sea, that it might be lightened of them. But Jonas was gone down into the hold of the ship, and was asleep, and snored.

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 snore you? arise, and call upon your God, that God may save us, and we perish not.

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 each man said to his neighbor, Come, let us cast lots, and find out for whose sake this mischief is upon us. So 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 what is your occupation, and whence come you, and of what country and what people are you?

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 servant of the Lord; and I worship the Lord God of heaven, who made 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 Then the men feared exceedingly, and said to him, What is this [that] you have done? for the men knew that he was fleeing 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 you, that the sea may be calm to us? for the sea rose, and lifted its wave exceedingly.

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

12 And Jonas 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 tried hard to return to the land, and were not able: for the sea rose and grew more and more tempestuous against 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, Forbid it, Lord: let us not perish for the sake of this man's life, and bring not righteous blood upon us: for you, Lord, have done as you would.

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 So they took Jonas, and cast him out into the sea: and the sea ceased from its raging.

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

16 And the men feared the Lord very greatly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord, and vowed vows.

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

17 Now the Lord had commanded a great whale to swallow up Jonas: and Jonas was in the belly of the whale 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.