Jonah - The Old Testament

¹ The word of Yahweh was addressed to Jonah son of Amittai:

² 'Up!' he said, 'Go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to them that their wickedness has forced itself upon me.'

³ Jonah set about running away from Yahweh, and going to Tarshish. He went down to Jaffa and found a ship bound for Tarshish; he paid his fare and boarded it, to go with them to Tarshish, to get away from Yahweh.

⁴ But Yahweh threw a hurricane at the sea, and there was such a great storm at sea that the ship threatened to break up.

⁵ The sailors took fright, and each of them called on his own god, and to lighten the ship they threw the cargo overboard. Jonah, however, had gone below, had lain down in the hold and was fast asleep,

⁶ when the boatswain went up to him and said, 'What do you mean by sleeping? Get up! Call on your god! Perhaps he will spare us a thought and not leave us to die.'

⁷ Then they said to each other, 'Come on, let us draw lots to find out who is to blame for bringing us this bad luck.' So they cast lots, and the lot pointed to Jonah.

⁸ Then they said to him, 'Tell us, what is your business? Where do you come from? What is your country? What is your nationality?'

⁹ He replied, 'I am a Hebrew, and I worship Yahweh, God of Heaven, who made both sea and dry land.'

¹⁰ The sailors were seized with terror at this and said, 'Why ever did you do this?' since they knew that he was trying to escape from Yahweh, because he had told them so.

¹¹ They then said, 'What are we to do with you, to make the sea calm down for us?' For the sea was growing rougher and rougher.

¹² He replied, 'Take me and throw me into the sea, and then it will calm down for you. I know it is my fault that this great storm has struck you.'

¹³ The sailors rowed hard in an effort to reach the shore, but in vain, since the sea was growing rougher and rougher.

¹⁴ So at last they called on Yahweh and said, 'O, Yahweh, do not let us perish for the sake of this man's life, and do not hold us responsible for causing an innocent man's death; for you, Yahweh, have acted as you saw fit.'

¹⁵ And taking hold of Jonah they threw him into the sea; and the sea stopped raging.

¹⁶ At this, the men were seized with dread of Yahweh; they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and made vows to him.