Jonah 1:4-9

Amplified Bible

⁴But the Lord hurled a great wind toward the sea, and there was a violent tempest on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.^(A) ⁵Then the sailors were afraid, and each man cried out to his god; and to lighten the ship [and diminish the danger] they threw the ship’s cargo into the sea. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship and had lain down and was sound asleep. ⁶So the captain came up to him and said, “How can you stay asleep? Get up! Call on your god! Perhaps your god will give a thought to us so that we will not perish.”

⁷And they said to another, “Come, ^[a]let us cast lots, so we may learn who is to blame for this disaster.” So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸Then they said to him, “Now tell us! ^[b]Who is to blame for this disaster? What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country?” ⁹So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I [reverently] fear and worship the Lord, the God of heaven, ^[c]who made the sea and the dry land.”

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Footnotes

Jonah 1:7 To these sailors, who undoubtedly believed in their own pagan gods, the casting of lots was a way to allow the gods to express themselves since only they could control how a lot fell. In this case, it is possible that God intervened to identify Jonah as the guilty party.
Jonah 1:8 The questions asked indicate that the sailors were afraid of Jonah even before he confessed his worship of the Lord (v 9). The lot had already confirmed that he was responsible, but instead of acting on that they gave him the option of blaming someone else. The other questions are typical of what one would ask any stranger.
Jonah 1:9 This was an important addition to Jonah’s description of God, because most people who believed in pagan gods had different deities for different regions of the created world, and often they also worshiped deities of their own localities. Jonah was affirming that there is only one true God.