¹The word of Yahweh came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying:

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

³But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid its fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of Yahweh.

⁴But Yahweh hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a great storm on the sea, so that the ship thought it would break apart.

⁵The sailors were afraid, and each man cried out to his own god. They hurled the articles that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and had lain down and fallen into a deep sleep.

⁶The chief of the sailors came to him and said to him, "What is it with you, sleeping so deeply? Get up, call out to your God! Perhaps God will take thought for us, and we will not perish."

⁷They said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this evil is upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

⁸They said to him, "Tell us, please: on whose account is this evil upon us? What is your occupation, and from where do you come? What is your land, and from what people are you?"

⁹He said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land."

¹⁰The men feared with great fear and said to him, "What is this you have done?" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yahweh, because he had told them.

¹¹They said to him, "What shall we do to you, so that the sea may grow calm for us?" For the sea was growing more and more stormy.

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

¹³The men rowed hard to return to the dry land, but they were not able, for the sea kept going and storming against them.

¹⁴They called out to Yahweh and said, "We beg you, O Yahweh, please, do not let us perish for the life of this man, and do not put innocent blood upon us. For you, O Yahweh, have done just as you pleased."

¹⁵They picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.

¹⁶The men feared Yahweh with great fear, and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh, and made vows.

¹⁷And Yahweh appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.