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 evil has risen before me."

³ But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish, away from our Father's presence. He went down to Joppa, found a ship bound for Tarshish, paid its fare, and boarded to go with them to Tarshish, away from our Father's presence.

⁴ Then our Father hurled a great wind at the sea; a violent storm arose, and the ship seemed about to break apart. ⁵ The sailors were terrified, each crying to his own god. They threw the ship's cargo into the sea to lighten it. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay fast asleep. ⁶ The captain came and said, "How can you sleep? Get up, call on your god! Maybe he will notice us, and we won't perish."

⁷ The men said to each other, "Come, let's cast lots to find who's to blame for this disaster on us." They cast lots, and it fell on Jonah. ⁸ They said to him, "Tell us — on account of whom has this disaster come on us? What is your work? Where do you come from? What is your country? What people are you from?"

⁹ He answered, "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, "What have you done?" For they knew he was fleeing from our Father's presence, because he had told them.

¹¹ Then they said to him, "What should we do to you to calm the sea for us?" — for the sea grew stormier and stormier.

¹² He told them, "Lift me up and throw me into the sea, and it will calm for you. I know this great storm came on you because of me."

¹³ Instead the men rowed hard to reach land, but could not, for the sea grew wilder and wilder against them. ¹⁴ So they cried out to our Father: "Please, God, don't let us die for taking this man's life. Don't 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 The men then feared our Father greatly, offered a sacrifice to our Father, and made vows.