1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai:
2 "Up, go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach against it, because their wickedness has risen to my presence."
3 Jonah did get up, but to flee to Tarshish, away from the LORD's presence. He went down to Joppa, found a ship about to sail for Tarshish, paid the fare for it and went aboard, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the LORD's presence.
4 The LORD flung a great wind out over the sea, and a violent storm arose on the sea, until the ship expected to be broken to pieces.
5 The seamen were terrified, and each one cried for help to his own god; they flung the gear that was on board into the sea to lighten their load. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel, where he lay down and sank into a deep sleep.
6 The chief of the crew came over to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call to your god! It may be that the god will take notice of us, and we will not die."
7 Then the men said to each other, "Come on, let us throw lots and find out on whose account this calamity has come on us." They threw lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 So they said to him, "Tell us, please, on whose account this calamity has come on us: what do you do for a living? Where have you come from? Which is your country, and of which people are you?"
9 "I am a Hebrew," he answered, "and it is the LORD, the God of heaven, whom I fear, the one who made the sea and the dry land."
10 The men were overcome with dread and said to him, "What have you done?" They knew he was fleeing from the LORD's presence, since he had told them so.
11 They asked him, "What should we do with you to make the sea grow quiet for us?" For the sea kept raging higher and higher.
12 "Lift me up and throw me into the sea," he told them, "and the sea will grow quiet for you; I know that this great storm has struck you on my account."
13 Still the men dug in their oars to get back to land, but they could not, because the sea kept raging higher against them.
14 Then they called on the LORD: "We beg you, LORD, do not let us die for taking this man's life, and do not hold us guilty of innocent blood; for you, LORD, have done just as you willed."
15 So they lifted Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.
16 Then a great fear of the LORD came over the men; they offered the LORD a sacrifice and made vows.
17 The LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the fish's belly three days and three nights.