Jonah 1
1A WORD of the Lord came to Jonas the son of Amathi, saying,
2Arise and go to Ninive, that great city, and proclaim in it that the cry of its wickedness is come up to Me.
3[But] Jonas arose to flee to Tharsis from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and finding a ship bound to Tharsis, he paid his fare and went on board with a design to sail with them to Tharsis, from the presence of the Lord.
4But the Lord raised a wind on the sea, and there was a great tempest in the sea, so that the ship was in danger of foundering.
5And the mariners were terrified, and cried every one to his god, and threw overboard some of the cargo, to lighten the vessel. Now Jonas had gone down into the ship’s hold, and was asleep and snoring.
6And the master of the ship came to him and said to him, What! art thou snoring? Arise and call on thy God, that thy God may save us, and that we may not perish.
7Then they said, one to another, Come let us cast lots and know on whose account this calamity is come on us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonas.
8Whereupon they said to him, Tell us. What is thy business? And whence comest thou? And of what country, and of what people art thou?
9And 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.
10Upon this the men were greatly terrified and said to him, Why hast thou done this? (For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, for he had told them.)
11Then they said to him, What shall we do to thee that the sea may be calmed for us? For the sea rolled and grew more and more tempestuous.
12And Jonas said to them, Take me up and throw me into the sea, and the sea will be calm for you; for I know that on my account this great tempest is come upon you.
13When the men had laboured hard to reach land, but could not because the sea ran high, and grew more tempestuous against them,
14then they cried to the Lord and said, Forbid it, O Lord, that we perish, for the life of this man, and bring not upon us innocent blood; for Thou, O Lord, has done according to Thy pleasure.
15Then they took Jonas and cast him into the sea. Whereupon from raging the sea became still.
16And the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
17Now the Lord had commanded a great whale to swallow Jonas, so Jonas was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale.