1The word of Yahweh came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying:
2“Get up, go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
3But Jonah got 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 onto the sea, and there was a great storm on the sea, and the ship threatened to break apart.
5The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god, and they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost part of the vessel, where he lay down and fell fast asleep.
6The captain came to him and said, “What are you doing, sleeper? Get up, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give us a thought, and we will not perish.”
7Then they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, so we may know on whose account this disaster has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
8Then they said to him, “Tell us, please — you on whose account this disaster has come upon us — what is your occupation, and where do you come from? What is your country, 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.”
10Then the men were seized 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.
11Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down 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 quiet down for you; for I know that it is on my account that this great storm has come upon you.”
13But the men rowed hard to get back to the dry land, and they could not, for the sea was growing more and more stormy against them.
14Then they called out to Yahweh and said, “Please, Yahweh, do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not lay innocent blood upon us; for you, Yahweh, have done as you pleased.”
15Then they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.
16Then the men were seized with great fear of Yahweh, 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.
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