Jonah 1
Evangelical Heritage Version
Jonah Disobeys God and Flees
1 So the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Get up. Go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach against it, for its people’s evil way has come up before me.”
3 But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.[a] He paid the fare and boarded the ship to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
4 But the Lord hurled a great wind onto the sea, and there was such a great storm on the sea that the ship was about to break apart. 5 The sailors were afraid, and each one cried out to his gods. They threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the ship’s load.
Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship. He was lying down and sleeping soundly. 6 The captain approached him and said, “How can you be sleeping so soundly? Get up and call on your god! Maybe your god will treat us with favor so that we will not perish.”
7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come on, let’s cast lots so that we can find out whose fault it is that this disaster has come to us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 So they said to him, “Please tell us whose fault it is that this disaster has come to us! What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? What people are you from?”
9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of Heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
10 Then the men were terrified and said to him, “What have you done?” The men already knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them so.
11 Then, because the storm on the sea kept getting worse, they said to him, “What should we do to you, to quiet the sea that is raging against us?”
12 He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will calm down for you, for I know that this violent storm striking against you has come about because of me.”
13 Instead, the men rowed hard to return the ship to dry land, but they could not, because the storm on the sea kept getting worse for them. 14 So they cried out to the Lord and said, “Please, Lord, please do not let us perish because of this man’s life, and do not charge innocent blood against us, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
17 Then the Lord provided a large fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.[b]
Footnotes
- Jonah 1:3 Tarshish was in the far western Mediterranean region, perhaps in Spain or Portugal. It was the most distant place known to Israel.
- Jonah 1:17 English verse 1:17 is verse 2:1 in Hebrew. All subsequent verse numbers in chapter 2 are one number lower in English than they are in Hebrew.
Jonah 1
Lexham English Bible
Jonah Disobeys Yahweh
1 And the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Get up! Go to the great city Nineveh and cry out against her, because their evil has come up before me.”[a] 3 But Jonah set out to flee toward Tarshish from the presence of[b] Yahweh. And he went down to Joppa and found a merchant ship going to Tarshish, and paid her fare, and went on board her to go with them toward Tarshish from the presence of[c] Yahweh.
4 And Yahweh hurled a great wind upon the sea, and it was a great storm on the sea, and the merchant ship was in danger of breaking up.[d] 5 And the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they threw the contents[e] that were in the merchant ship into the sea to lighten it for them. And meanwhile Jonah went down into the hold of the vessel and lay down and fell asleep. 6 And the captain[f] of the ship approached him and said to him, “Why are you sound asleep?[g] Get up! Call on your god! Perhaps your god[h] will take notice of us and we won’t perish!” 7 And they said to one another,[i] “Come, let us cast lots so that we may know on whose account this disaster has come on us!” And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they said to him, “Please tell us whoever is responsible that this disaster has come upon us! What is your occupation? And from where do you come? What is your country? And from which people are you?” 9 And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were greatly afraid,[j] and they said to him, “What is this you have done?” because they[k] knew that he was fleeing from the presence of[l] Yahweh (because he had told them). 11 So they said to him, “What shall we do to you so that the sea may quiet down for us?” because the sea was growing more and more tempestuous.[m] 12 And he said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea so that the sea may quiet down for you, because I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you all.” 13 But the men rowed hard to bring the ship[n] back to the dry land, and they could not do so because the sea was growing more and more tempestuous[o] against them. 14 So they cried out to Yahweh, and they said, “O Yahweh! Please do not let us perish because of this man’s life, and do not make us guilty of innocent blood,[p] because you, O Yahweh, did what you wanted.” 15 And they picked Jonah up and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 So the men feared Yahweh greatly,[q] and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and made[r] vows.
Jonah Is Swallowed by a Fish and Prays to Yahweh
17 [s] And Yahweh provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Footnotes
- Jonah 1:2 Literally “to my face”
- Jonah 1:3 Literally “from to face of”
- Jonah 1:3 Literally “from to face of”
- Jonah 1:4 Literally “threatened to be broken up”
- Jonah 1:5 Literally “objects”
- Jonah 1:6 Or “commander”
- Jonah 1:6 Literally “in a deep sleep”
- Jonah 1:6 Literally “the god,” with the article indicating previous reference
- Jonah 1:7 Literally “each to his friend/companion”
- Jonah 1:10 Literally “were afraid with a great fear”
- Jonah 1:10 Literally “the men” but this is redundant in English
- Jonah 1:10 Literally “from before the face of”
- Jonah 1:11 Literally “going/growing and storming”
- Jonah 1:13 Here the direct object is supplied from context
- Jonah 1:13 Literally “going/growing and storming”
- Jonah 1:14 Literally “do not give innocent blood on us”
- Jonah 1:16 Literally “with a great fear”
- Jonah 1:16 Literally “vowed”
- Jonah 1:17 Jonah 1:17–2:10 in the English Bible is 2:1–11 in the Hebrew Bible
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