Jonah
Chapter 1
1 God spoke to Jonah, Amittai’s son, saying,
2 Get up, go to Nineveh, the big city, and speak out against it, because their badness has reached me.
3 Jonah got up to run away to Tarshish to escape from God, and he went to Joppa. There he found a boat going to Tarshish. He paid for the trip and got on board to sail with them to Tarshish, away from God.
4 But God made a strong wind blow over the sea, and a big storm came up, making the ship nearly break apart.
5 The sailors were scared and each prayed to his own god. They threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to make it lighter. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.
6 The captain went to him and said, “What are you doing sleeping? Get up and pray to your God; maybe God will notice us, and we won’t die.”
7 They all said to each other, “Come, let’s draw lots to find out who is responsible for this trouble.” They drew lots and the lot pointed to Jonah.
8 They asked him, “Please tell us why this trouble is happening to us. What is your job? Where do you come from? What’s your country? And what people do you belong to?”
9 He told them, “I am a Hebrew; and I respect God, the God of heaven, who created the sea and the land.”
10 The men became very scared and asked him, “Why did you do this?” They knew he was running away from God because he had told them.
11 Then they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm for us?” because the sea was stormy and turbulent.
12 He told them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea, and then the sea will become calm for you. I know that this big storm has come because of me.”
13 The men rowed hard to reach the land, but they couldn’t because the sea got rough and stormy against them.
14 So they called out to God, saying, “Please, God, we beg you, don’t let us die because of this man’s life, and don’t make us guilty of killing an innocent person: for you, God, have done as you wanted.”
15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging.
16 The men became very afraid of God, and they gave a sacrifice to God and promised to do things for Him.
17 God had sent a big fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah was inside the fish for three days and nights.