THE BOOK OF JONAH

 

Jonah Chapter 1

1 ¶ Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2 Arise, go to the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.

3 But Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish away from the presence of the LORD, and so went down to Joppa; and there he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare, and went down into the ship, to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the LORD.

4 ¶ But the LORD sent a strong wind onto the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was about to be wrecked.

5 Then the sailors were afraid, and each of them cried out to his god, and threw the goods that were in the ship out into the sea, to lighten it. But Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship; and was lying there, fast asleep.

6 Then the captain came to him, and said, What are you doing, how can you sleep? get up, call upon your God, perhaps he will think of us, and we will not die.

7 And they all said one to another, Come, and let us cast lots, to see who has brought this disaster upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

8 Then they said to him, Please tell us the reason this evil has come upon us; What is your occupation? and where do you come from? what is your country? and what is your nationality?

9 And he said to them, I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.

10 Then the men were extremely frightened, and asked him, What have you done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

11 ¶ Then they asked him, What should we do to you, that the sea might be calm for us? for the sea was raging, and getting worse.

12 And he said to them, Pick me up, and throw me out into the sea; then the sea will be calm for you: for I know that this great storm has come upon you because of me.

13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring the ship to the land; but they could not: for the sea was raging, and was getting worse.

14 Therefore they cried out to the LORD, and said, We beg you, O LORD, we beg you, do not let us die for taking this man’s life, and do not hold us guilty of shedding innocent blood: for you, O LORD, have done what pleased you.

15 So they picked up Jonah, and threw him out into the sea: and the sea stopped raging.

16 Then the men greatly feared the LORD, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD, and made vows.

17 Now the LORD had prepared a huge sea creature to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in its belly three days and three nights.

[Note: Verse 17: There are cases on record of men being swallowed by enraged whales, and later rescued – one after being inside the whale for two days. (See, "Bible History References", by F. Rupprecht.)]

[Note: In Hebrew usage the idiomatic phrase, "three days and three nights" means that he was vomited up on the third day. (See, "Commentary on the Old Testament", by Keil and Delitzsch.)]