Jonah 1

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

Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah 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.

“Get up and go to Nineveh, that great city, and speak out against it, because their wickedness has risen 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.

But Jonah got up to run away from the presence of Yahweh and go to Tarshish. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and boarded the ship to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of Yahweh.

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.

But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea and it became a mighty storm on the sea. Soon it appeared that the ship was going to be broken up.

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 became very afraid and each man cried out to his own god. They threw the ship's cargo into the sea to lighten it. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he was lying there deeply asleep.

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.”

So the captain came to him and said to him, “What are you doing sleeping? Get up! Call upon your god! Maybe your god will notice us and we will not perish.”

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.

They all said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know who is the cause of this evil that is happening to us.” So they threw lots, and the lot fell to Jonah.

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 Jonah, “Please tell us who is the cause of this evil that is happening to us. What is your occupation, and where did you come from? What is your country, and from which people are you?”

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.”

Jonah said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has 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.)

Then the men were even more afraid and said to Jonah, “What is this that you have done?” For the men knew that he was running away from the presence of Yahweh, because he had told 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.

Then they said to Jonah, “What should we do to you so that the sea will calm down for us?” For the sea became more and more violent.

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.”

Jonah said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you, for I know that it is because of me that this great storm is happening to 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.

Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get them back to the land, but they could not do it because the sea was becoming more and more violent 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.”

Therefore they cried out to Yahweh and said, “We beg you, Yahweh, we beg you, do not let us perish on account of this man's life, and do not lay upon us the guilt of his death, because you, Yahweh, have done just as it pleased you.”

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

So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging.

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

Then the men feared Yahweh very much. They offered sacrifices to Yahweh and made vows.

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.

Now Yahweh had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.