The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amitai, saying,

Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, shout to the residents there. Because their evil has come before me.

But Jonah got up and fled to Tarshish to avoid the Lord. Going down to Joppa, I encountered a ship heading towards Tashi. He gave the price of the ship and boarded it to go with the people on board to Tarshish to avoid the Lord.

However, the Lord caused a strong wind to rise in the sea, and the sea became a raging wind, to the point where the ship was almost destroyed.

The sailors were afraid and each cried out to their own gods. They threw the cargo on the ship into the sea to make it lighter. Jonah has descended to the bottom hold and is lying down in a deep sleep.

The shipowner came to him and said, “You sleeping person, why are you doing this?”? Get up and call on your God, or God may consider us, so that we may not perish.

The people on the ship said to each other, “Come, let’s draw lots and see for what reason this disaster is affecting us.”. So they drew lots and drew Jonah.

And the people said to him, Tell us, for whom is this calamity upon us. What is your profession. Where are you from. Which country and ethnicity are you from.

He said, I am Hebrew. I fear the Lord, the God of heaven who created the sea and dry land.

They were greatly afraid and said to him, “What have you done?”? They already knew that he was avoiding the Lord because he had told them.

They asked him, “What should we do to you to make the waves calm?”? This is because the waves are becoming more turbulent.

He said to them, ‘Lift me up and throw me into the sea, and the sea will be calm.’. I know that you were hit by this strong wind because of me.

However, those people tried their best to paddle and bring the ship ashore, but they could not. Because the waves are churning towards them more and more.

And they called upon the Lord, saying, O Lord, we implore you, do not let this man’s life cause us death, and do not let the sin of shedding innocent blood be on us. Because you, Lord, do according to your own will.

They lifted Jonah up and threw him into the sea, and the raging waves of the sea subsided.

Those people greatly revered the Lord, offered sacrifices to the Lord, and made vows.

The Lord arranged for a large fish to swallow Jonah, and he stayed in the fish’s belly for three days and three nights.