Jonah 1
Christian Standard Bible
Jonah’s Flight
1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai:(A) 2 “Get up!(B) Go to the great city(C) of Nineveh(D) and preach against it(E) because their evil(F) has come up before me.”(G) 3 Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish(H) from the Lord’s presence.(I) He went down(J) to Joppa(K) and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence.
4 But the Lord threw(L) a great wind onto the sea,(M) and such a great storm arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break apart. 5 The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his god.(N) They threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load.(O) Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel and had stretched out and fallen into a deep sleep.(P)
6 The captain approached him and said, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up! Call to your god.[a](Q) Maybe this god will consider us,(R) and we won’t perish.”
7 “Come on!” the sailors said to each other. “Let’s cast lots.(S) Then we’ll know who is to blame for this trouble we’re in.” So they cast lots, and the lot singled out Jonah.(T) 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us who is to blame for this trouble we’re in.(U) What is your business,(V) and where are you from? What is your country, and what people are you from?”
9 He answered them, “I’m a Hebrew.(W) I worship[b] the Lord,(X) the God of the heavens,(Y) who made the sea(Z) and the dry land.”
10 Then the men were seized by a great fear and said to him, “What have you done?” The men knew he was fleeing from the Lord’s presence(AA) because he had told them. 11 So they said to him, “What should we do to you so that the sea will calm down for us?” For the sea was getting worse and worse.
12 He answered them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea so that it will calm down for you, for I know that I’m to blame(AB) for this great storm that is against you.” 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they couldn’t because the sea was raging against them more and more.
14 So they called out to the Lord,(AC) “Please, Lord, don’t let us perish because of this man’s life, and don’t charge us with innocent blood! For you, Lord, have done just as you pleased.”(AD) 15 Then they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.(AE) 16 The men were seized by great fear of the Lord,(AF) and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.(AG)
17 The Lord appointed a great fish(AH) to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.(AI)
Jonah 1
Expanded Bible
God Calls and Jonah Runs
1 The ·Lord spoke his word [L word of the Lord came] to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Get up, go to the great city of Nineveh [C the capital of Assyria; Gen. 10:11, 12; 2 Kin. 19:36], and ·preach [cry out] against it, because ·I see the evil things they do [its wickedness has come to my attention/L up before me].”
3 But Jonah got up to run away from the Lord by going to Tarshish [C probably Tartessos in southwest Spain, the opposite direction from Nineveh]. He went to the city of Joppa, where he found a ship that was going to the city of Tarshish. Jonah paid for the trip and went aboard, planning to go to Tarshish to run away from the Lord.
4 But the Lord ·sent [hurled] a great wind on the sea, which made the sea so stormy that the ship was in danger of breaking apart. 5 The sailors were afraid, and each man cried to his own god. They began throwing the cargo from the ship into the sea to make the ship lighter.
But Jonah had gone down far inside the ship to lie down, and he fell fast asleep. 6 The captain of the ship came and said, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray to your god! Maybe your god will ·pay attention to [take notice of] us, and we won’t die!”
7 Then the men said to each other, “Let’s throw lots to see who caused these troubles to happen to us.”
When they threw lots, the lot ·showed that the trouble had happened because of [singled out; L fell upon] Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us, who caused our trouble? What is your job? Where do you come from? What is your country? Who are your people?”
9 Then Jonah said to them, “I am a Hebrew. I ·fear [worship] the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land [Gen. 1].”
10 The men were very afraid, and they asked Jonah, “What terrible thing did you do?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord because he had told them.)
11 Since the wind and the waves of the sea were becoming much stronger, they said to him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”
12 Jonah said to them, “Pick me up, and throw me into the sea, and then it will calm down. I know it is my fault that this great storm has come on you.”
13 Instead, the men ·tried [L dug in] to row the ship back to the land, but they could not, because the sea was becoming more stormy.
Jonah’s Punishment
14 So the men cried to the Lord, “Lord, please don’t let us die because of this man’s life; please don’t ·think we are [hold us] guilty of ·killing an innocent person [L innocent blood]. Lord, you have caused all this to happen; you wanted it this way.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ·became calm [ceased raging]. 16 Then they began to fear the Lord very much; they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made ·promises [vows] to him.
17 The Lord ·caused [appointed; provided] a big fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was ·inside [in the belly of] the fish three days and three nights.
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