Jonah 1

1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Get up and go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach in it, because the cry of its wickedness has come up to me.” 3 But Jonah got up to flee from the Lord’s presence to Tarshish. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid his fare and boarded it to sail with them to Tarshish, away from the Lord’s presence.

4 Then the Lord stirred up a wind on the sea, and a great storm arose. The ship was in danger of breaking apart. 5 The sailors were afraid. Each man cried out to his god, and they threw the ship’s equipment into the sea to lighten it. But Jonah had gone down into the ship’s hold, where he lay sleeping and snoring. 6 The captain came to him and said, “Why are you snoring? Get up and call on your God! Perhaps God will save us, and we will not perish.”

7 Then each sailor said to the one beside him, “Come, let us cast lots and find out who has brought this trouble on us.” They cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 They said to him, “Tell us: who has brought this trouble on us? What is your work? Where do you come from? What is your country, and what people are you from?” [a] 9 He answered, “I am a servant of the Lord, and I revere the Lord God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 The men were terrified and said to him, “What have you done?” For he had told them that he was fleeing from the Lord’s presence.

11 They asked him, “What should we do to you so that the sea will calm down for us?” The sea was growing more and more violent. 12 Jonah told them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will calm down for you, because I know this great storm has come on you because of me.” 13 The men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, because the sea grew even more violent against them. 14 They cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us perish because of this man’s life, and do not hold innocent blood against us. For you, Lord, have done as you wished.”

15 Then they took Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging. † 16 The men feared the Lord greatly. They offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.