Jonah 1-2

New International Reader's Version

Jonah Runs Away From the Lord

1 A message from the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai. The Lord said, ²“Go to the great city of Nineveh. Preach against it. The sins of its people have come to my attention.”

³But Jonah ran away from the Lord. He headed for Tarshish. So he went down to the port of Joppa. There he found a ship that was going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went on board. Then he sailed for Tarshish. He was running away from the Lord.

⁴But the Lord sent a strong wind over the Mediterranean Sea. A wild storm came up. It was so wild that the ship was in danger of breaking apart. ⁵All the sailors were afraid. Each one cried out to his own god for help. They threw the ship’s contents into the sea. They were trying to make the ship lighter.

But Jonah had gone below deck. There he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. ⁶The captain went down to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call out to your god for help! Maybe he’ll pay attention to what’s happening to us. Then we won’t die.”

⁷Here is what the sailors said to one another. “Someone is to blame for getting us into all this trouble. Come. Let’s cast lots to find out who it is.” So they did. And Jonah was picked. ⁸They asked him, “What terrible thing have you done to bring all this trouble on us? Tell us. What do you do for a living? Where do you come from? What is your country? What people do you belong to?”

⁹He answered, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship the Lord. He is the God of heaven. He made the sea and the dry land.”

¹⁰They found out he was running away from the Lord. That’s because he had told them. Then they became terrified. So they asked him, “How could you do a thing like that?”

¹¹The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down?”

¹²“Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied. “Then it will become calm. I know it’s my fault that this terrible storm has come on you.”

¹³But the men didn’t do what he said. Instead, they did their best to row back to land. But they couldn’t. The sea got even rougher than before. ¹⁴Then they cried out to the Lord. They prayed, “Please, Lord, don’t let us die for taking this man’s life. After all, he might not be guilty of doing anything wrong. So don’t hold us responsible for killing him. Lord, you always do what you want to.” ¹⁵Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard. And the stormy sea became calm. ¹⁶The men saw what had happened. Then they began to have great respect for the Lord. They offered a sacrifice to him. And they made promises to him.

Jonah Prays to the Lord

¹⁷Now the Lord sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. 2 ¹From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. ²He said,

“When I was in trouble, I called out to the Lord.
    And he answered me.
When I was deep in the place of the dead,
    I called out for help.
    And you listened to my cry.
³You threw me deep into the Mediterranean Sea.
    I was deep down in its waters.
    They were all around me.
All your rolling waves
    were sweeping over me.
⁴I said, ‘I have been driven away from you.
    But I will look again
    toward your holy temple in Jerusalem.’
⁵I had almost drowned in the waves.
    The deep waters were all around me.
    Seaweed was wrapped around my head.
⁶I sank down to the bottom of the mountains.
    I thought I had died
    and gone down into the grave forever.
But you are the Lord my God.
You brought my life up
    from the very edge of the pit of death.

⁷“When my life was nearly over,
I remembered you, Lord.
My prayer rose up to you.
It reached you in your holy temple in heaven.

⁸“Some people worship the worthless statues of their gods.
    They turn away from God’s love for them.
⁹But I will sacrifice a thank offering to you.
    And I will shout with thankful praise.
I will do what I have promised.
    I will say, ‘Lord, you are the one who saves.’ ”

¹⁰The Lord gave the fish a command. And it spit Jonah up onto dry land.