Jonah 1:1-17, NLT
Jonah 1
Jonah Runs from the Lord
1The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai:
3But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.
4But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart.
But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold.
7Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit.
9Jonah answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.”
10The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the Lord. “Oh, why did you do it?” they groaned.
12“Throw me into the sea,” Jonah said, “and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.”
13Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn’t make it.
15Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once!
17*1:17 Verse 1:17 is numbered 2:1 in Hebrew text.Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.