Jonah 1

1 ¹ Now the word of our Father came to Jonah son of Amittai:

² "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has risen up before me."

³ But Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of our Father. He went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish; so he paid the fare and went aboard to sail with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of our Father.

⁴ Then our Father hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break apart. ⁵ The sailors were terrified, and each cried out to his own god. They hurled the cargo in the ship into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the hold of the vessel, where he lay fast asleep. ⁶ The captain came to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Perhaps the god will take notice of us, so that we will not perish."

⁷ Then the men said to one another, "Let's cast lots to find out who is to blame for this disaster that has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ So they said to him, "Tell us — you who have brought this disaster on us — what do you do? Where are you from? What is your country, and what people do you belong to?"

⁹ He answered them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear our Father, the Father of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land."

¹⁰ Then the men were terrified and said to him, "What have you done?" For they knew he was fleeing from the presence of our Father, because he had told them.

¹¹ Then they said to him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?" — for the sea was growing wilder and wilder.

¹² He said to them, "Pick me up and hurl me into the sea, and it will calm down for you. I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you."

¹³ Instead, the men rowed hard to get back to land, but they could not, for the sea was growing wilder and wilder against them. ¹⁴ So they cried out to our Father: "Please, Father, do not let us perish for taking this man's life. Do not hold us guilty of innocent blood, for you have done as you pleased." ¹⁵ Then they picked Jonah up and hurled him into the sea, and the raging sea grew calm. ¹⁶ At this, the men feared our Father deeply; they offered a sacrifice to our Father and made vows to him.