Jonas 1

¹ And the Word of Jehovah came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

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

³ But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah. And he went down to Joppa. And he found a ship going to Tarshish. And he gave its fare, and went down into it, in order to go with them to Tarshish, away from the sight of Jehovah.

⁴ But Jehovah hurled a great wind into the sea, and there was a great storm in the sea, so that the ship [was] thought to be broken.

⁵ Then the seamen were afraid, and each man cried to his god. And they threw out the [ship's] articles in the ship, into the sea in order to lighten [it]. But Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship; and he lay there, and was fast asleep.

⁶ And the chief of the seaman came to him and said to him, What [is it] to you, O sound sleeper? Arise, call upon your God! It may be that our god will notice us, and we will not perish.

⁷ And they said, each one to his fellow, Come and let us cast lots, so that we may know who has caused this evil [to occur] to us. And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

⁸ Then they said to him, Please tell us, for what reason this evil [has come] on us. What is your business? And where do you come from? Where [is] your country? And of what people [are] you?

⁹ And he said to them, I [am] a Hebrew; and I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.

¹⁰ Then the men were afraid [with] a great fear. And they said to him, What is this you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from before the face of Jehovah, because he had told them.

¹¹ Then they said to him, What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us? For the sea was going on and being stormy.

¹² And he said to them, Take me up and throw me out into the sea. And the sea shall be calm to you; for I know that this great storm [has come] on you for my sake.

¹³ But the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not, for the sea was going on and being stormy against them.

¹⁴ And they cried to Jehovah and said, We beg You, O Jehovah, we beg You, let us not perish for this man's life, and do not lay on us innocent blood. For You, O Jehovah, have done as it pleased You.

¹⁵ And they lifted Jonah up and threw him out into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging.

¹⁶ Then the men feared Jehovah exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to Jehovah, and vowed vows.

¹⁷ And Jehovah had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.