JONAH
Jonah 1 ©
Jonah, being sent by God to preach at Nineveh, flees to Tarshish, v. 1, etc. Is pursued by God at sea with a great tempest, and discovered by lot, 4. And by the mariners, upon his own advice, cast at last into the sea, which grew forthwith calm again, 12. God appoints a great fish, which swallows up Jonah, in whose belly he abides three days and three nights, 17.
Now1 the word of the LORD came unto 2Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
Arise, go to 3Nineveh, that greata city, and 4cry against it; 5for 6their wickedness is 7come up before me.
But Jonah rose up to 8flee unto 9Tarshish from the presence of the 10LORD, and went down to 11Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare 12thereof, and went down into it, to go with 13them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
¶But the LORD 14sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was 15like to be broken.
Then the 16mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto 17his god, and cast forth the 18wares that were in the ship into the sea, to 19lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the 20sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast 21asleep.
So the 22shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, 23What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will 24think upon us, that we perish not.
And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know 25for whose cause this 26evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot 27fell upon Jonah.
Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, 28for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine 29occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?
And he said unto them, I am an 30Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God 31of heaven, which hath made the 32sea and the 33dry land.
Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, 34Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the 35presence of the LORD, because he had told them.
¶Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm 36unto us? for the sea 37wrought, and was tempestuous.
And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I 38know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
Nevertheless the men 39rowed hard to bring it to the 40land; but they could not: for the sea 41wrought, and was tempestuous against them.
Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s 42life, and 43lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee.
So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and 44offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and 45made vows.
¶Now the LORD had 46prepared a 47great fish 48to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the 49belly of the fish threeb days and three nights.