Jonah 1

¹Now the word of the Lord

²“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

³But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord

⁴But the Lord

⁵Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.

⁶So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”

⁷And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

⁸Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”

⁹So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord

¹⁰Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord

¹¹Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.

¹²And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”

¹³Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them.

¹⁴Therefore they cried out to the Lord

¹⁵So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.

¹⁶Then the men feared the Lord

¹⁷Now the Lord